Once Upon Another Time: Book 2 (Discontinued)
by Artemis Sherwood
Summary: Diana knows what her powers are, how and why she can travel in the vortex unharmed, but now things are even more difficult. The Master seems to want more than just her powers, her children are scattered across all of time and space, she and the strange Missy are becoming fast friends, and Diana's falling even faster and harder for the Doctor. (1-12, future Doctors/OC) Sequel story
1. Prologue

**A/N: So I know it's very short, but life has been busy and depression is not fun. But the series 9 trailer reinvigorated my love for the show, so I'm back with a new passion. Enjoy!**

I woke to the sound of leaves rustling in the wind and the calls of strange birds overhead. My heartbeat was pounding in my ears and the back of my head ached terribly. With a low groan, I rolled over not my side and pushed myself up into a sitting position.

I was lying in the shade of a tree whose silver leafed branches hung low over my head. There was something familiar about the shining silver leaves, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. I leaned back against the trunk of the tree and gazed up at the burnt orange sky through the branches. There was a bright, pure white moon in the sky that illuminated everything like it was the sun and another smaller, dimmer moon just below it. The rest of the sky was dotted with stars that sparkled in unrecognizable patterns.

As I gazed up at the two moons and stars, something clicked in the fog of my mind. _Gallifrey._ That one word echoed continuously in my head. _I'm on Gallifrey._

The birds calling loudly in the tree above me only made my head hurt more. I clamped my hands over my ears as the noise grated on my ears. The birds combined with the incredible brightness of the moons made my forehead ache in addition to the already throbbing back end of my skull.

I ran my hands through my hair as the birds quieted down, but stopped when my fingers touched something wet and sticky. Confused, I pulled my hand away and looked down to see my fingers red and bloody. I stared at the in confusion for a few moments, unsure of what to do or even how to react.

 _How…? Why am I bleeding?_ I wondered as I wiped my fingers on my thighs. I tried to think back to what had happened before I woke up, what had caused me to bleed in the first place, but I couldn't remember anything. _I remember the angels taking me, but… nothing after that._

Worried that perhaps I was bleeding too much, I gently prodded at the back of my head. There was a small bump a few inches above the base of my skull and although there was blood around it, it felt like the bleeding had stopped. I wiped my hand on my thigh a second time with a heavy sigh before resting my head against the tree again.

 _None of this is good. I should be worried, shouldn't I? I feel like I should be worried._

I started to look around at my surroundings then, pushing away from the tree and finally standing up. I pushed aside a branch and looked past the silver leaves to see endless stretches of red grass and, far off in the distant horizon, there was the hazy outline of mountains. The mountains were a reddish brown color capped with shining white snow and just above the peaks of those mountains were a few wispy, faintly orange clouds.

When I turned around to inspect my surroundings further, I stumbled back in shock as I gazed at the enormous mountain before me. I had somehow managed to not notice it when I first awoke, but it was impossible to miss now. The mountain was a rusty, red-brown color and more red grass stretched up the side of the mountain a quarter of the way. Then the red grass gave way to countless tiny, white daisies that spanned the rest of the surface of the mountain until they reached a barrier of snow. The very top of the mountain, glistening with white snow tinted orange from the sky, stretched so far above me that I could barely see it from my spot at its base.

A thought came to me then that I hadn't considered earlier. _Wait. Gallifrey should be impossible to reach, shouldn't it?_ I looked up at the two moons through the leaves and squinted a little. _Isn't it in a… pocket universe and time locked? So how am I even here?_

"The Doctor," I breathed. "He'll know."

I started to fumble for my phone when the sound of laughter reached my ears. I froze in place and looked around for the source of the noise. Running down the mountain towards me were two boys in red robes. Gasping, I raced back under the cover of the tree and pressed myself against its trunk to avoid being spotted. The giggling was faint and the people making the noise sounded young, childish even.

"Ushas is going to be so mad!" one of them snickered.

"Shh!" another one snapped. "It's the middle of the night! We have to be quiet!"

 _Middle of the night?_ I repeated to myself in confusion. _But it… it looks like the middle of the day._  
I waited until they passed before I peeked around the trunk of the tree. In the light of the dark orange sky and the two moons, I was able to spot a pair of boys wearing scarlet robes as they ran down a dirt path. The path cut through a large patch of tall, dark red grass that stretched from the base of the mountain to the valley behind me.

 _Wait, Ushas… No! No, that's… It can't be._ I looked closely at the boys as they continued down the path. One had dirty blonde hair and the other had incredibly dark black hair. _Is it possible? Theta and Koschei?_

I settled back against the tree and closed my eyes, letting out a heavy sigh. My brain was still stuck in a slight fog, which I could only guess was because of the bump and the blood at the back of my head. But despite my confused state, I was confident that the two boys were indeed Theta Sigma and Koschei. After all, it made sense. I was always being dragged across the Doctor's timeline, so why not stumble across him during his childhood years?

I reached for my phone again and called the Doctor with shaking hands. After five long rings, the receiver clicked and the Doctor answered the phone. I immediately recognized his voice as the gruff, war torn Doctor who would spend his regeneration living with the aftermath of destroying Gallifrey; the irony wasn't lost on me.

"Theta?" I whispered into the phone.

The Time Lord sounded confused when he replied. "Diana? Is that you?"

I peered around the tree agains and breathed a sigh of relief when I could barely pinpoint the the boys through the grass. "Uh, Theta, I think we have a problem," I said.

"A problem? Has something happened?"

I grimaced and chewed worriedly on my lower lip. "Well, um, i-it's very possible that I am on Gallifrey," I said as I looked up at the silver leaves rustling above me. "And I'm pretty sure that I have a concussion because I was bleeding when I woke up and I don't remember why."

"Gallifrey?" the Doctor repeated. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Orange sky, two moons, and trees with silver leaves? Pretty sure it's Gallifrey."

"And there's no sign of the War? No Daleks?"

"No." I glanced around only to see more red grass and a few other silver leafed trees. "I don't think I'm here during the War. I think I'm way earlier than that."

"How much earlier?" the Doctor wondered.

I glanced down the path the two boys had taken and sighed. The fogginess in my head was already stating to clear and I was of a sound enough mind to know that the Doctor probably shouldn't know what I had seen. "Oh, a few hundred years maybe? I'm not sure," I admitted. "But there's definitely no sign of any sort of War here."

The Doctor was silent for a few moments before he spoke again. "Now, you said you thought you had a concussion?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "Um, I-I can't really remember some of what happened before I woke up or why I'm bleeding-"

"Has it stopped?"

"I don't know." I reached through my hair and gently brushed my fingers against the bump there. "Maybe? The blood's still wet, but it doesn't feel like it's still bleeding."

"Anything else? Are you feeling overly sensitive to light or sound? Do you have a headache?"

"Y-Yes to everything," I stammered. The Doctor fell silent again, which only made me worry even more. "Theta? Is it… is it bad?"

"I can't tell for sure without seeing for myself. But it seems you do have a mild concussion. Just… be careful. Stay in the shade during the day because the heat can be very intense for most humans. If you're near a river, you should clean the wound and relax there until you start to feel better."

I pursed my lips as I looked around at my surroundings. "Yeah, I'm nowhere near a river, Theta."

"Very well. Tell me where you are and maybe I can help you."

"Okay. Well, um, there's a mountain. It's really tall and there's red grass towards the bottom, but then it sort of fades into all these white daisies. And there's snow at the very top. Th-The dirt is this reddish brown color and I can see some of it through the daises."

"And behind you? What kind of landscape is across from the mountain?" the Doctor asked.

"More red grass," I said simply. "Everything's flat and the grass stretches on for miles. As far as I can see. But at the horizon, it looks like there are mountains and they seem to go on forever too."

The Doctor hummed thoughtfully before responding. "Well I can't be sure, but I think you might be at the foot of Mount Cadon."

"Mount Cadon?" I repeated.

"Yes. The Prydonian Academy is halfway up the mountain, probably buried in snow."

"Didn't you go to the Prydonian Academy?" I asked.

"Yes, I… I did. Now," he continued after clearing his throat, "there should be a path at the foot of the mountain. If you follow it, it will lead you directly to the Cadonflood River. You can stay there for a few days while you recover."

I looked back at the base of the mountain and spotted the path the two boys had run down earlier. "I think I'm looking right at it," I said softly. "But Theta, can't you just come and get me?"

"Gallifrey is destroyed from my perspective, Diana. And its past is time locked. No one can get through a time lock."

"Except me," I sighed.

The Doctor made a noise that could have been a laugh. "Except you," he repeated.

"But…" I closed my eyes for a moment and shook my head. "Can't you try?"

"Believe me, Diana, I've tried at least a dozen times already. I traced your call. I know where you are, but the TARDIS won't respond to anything. She refuses to take me back."

"But there has to be something-"

"There's nothing I can do if the TARDIS won't take me anywhere. Diana, I'm sorry, but I can't get you."

"So I'm stuck here?"

The Doctor fell silent for a second before answering. "Yes."

 **A/N: Don't forget to review!**


	2. This Is Gallifrey

**A/N: There are mentions of Ceruleans. Prepare for the feels.**

"I'm sorry, Diana," the Doctor said again over the phone, "but there's nothing else I can do. You know I'd already be there if I could."

I nodded and forced a smile onto my face, even though there was no need. "Yeah. I know, Theta," I breathed as I hung my head in disappointment. I stayed silent for a few moments to calm myself. "I'm stuck here until I end up time jumping again."

"I'll be with you," the Doctor replied hastily. "I promise, Diana. I'll stay with you, I'll help you as much as I'm able."

I looked up at the two moons in the sky and sighed again. "So I follow the path around the mountain and I'll reach a river?" I asked, deciding to change the subject so neither of us would get upset.

"Yes. It's perfectly safe and there's shelter along the banks of the river where you can rest."

I stepped away from the silver-leafed tree and headed down the path that young Theta and Koschei had taken earlier. A light, yet dry breeze blew across the open fields of red grass and I grimaced as the hot air whipped against my face. My head still ached a bit and I was slightly confused as to some of what had happened before my black out, but the Doctor's plan made me feel a little less worried. Besides, a nap by a river sounded heavenly right then.

"Diana? Are you still there?"

I shook my head. "S-Sorry," I muttered. "I think my brain's still catching up to all this."

"So's mine," the Time Lord mumbled under his breath.

I stared down the path as it curved around the base of Mount Cadon and thought about Theta and Koschei. "Doctor, what should I do if I see someone?" I suddenly asked. "I mean, won't they know I'm not a Time Lord?"

"Not at first, I don't think. If you give them a Time Lord name and act like you're where you're supposed to be, I don't think they would question you anymore. But you're outside of the citadel. There aren't many Time Lords that venture out of there except for some children, outcasts and Ceruleans, mostly."

"Ceruleans?" I echoed in confusion. "Aren't they… obsessed with plants or something?"

The Doctor seemed to stifle a chuckle. "They're another Chapter, like the Prydonians. But they are more fond of the world outside the citadel than most other Time Lords," he explained.

I nodded as I continued along the path, watching red-brown dirt cloud around my shoes as I walked through the flattened grass. "So do I need to say what Chapter I'm from?"

"Just say you're Prydonian. That would make the most sense since you seem to be closest to that Academy."

"And a name?"

There was a pause on the other end of the phone before the Doctor answered, "Themba. Say that's your name."

I raised an eyebrow. "Sounds a lot like Theta. Did you make it up?"

"No, I didn't make it up," the Doctor scoffed. "It's an African name that means 'trust, hope, and faith'. I used to call you that… A long time ago."

"Really? I don't remember you ever calling me that," I responded. "But anyway, isn't Themba a little short? Theta's your nickname, not your real name. What if they ask for a real name, a Gallifreyan name?"

"Just elaborate on it."

Closing my eyes for just a moment, I exhaled heavily. "Fine. I'll think of something, I guess. Uh, what should I do after I get to the river? I mean, can I stay there?"

"It's too risky. Someone might see you, a student from the Academy most likely. But I think I do know somewhere you can stay, or rather, someone you can stay with. An old teacher of mine."

"A _teacher_?" I repeated incredulously. "Is that a good idea?"

The Doctor laughed. "Not a teacher from the Academy, my guru."

That made me stop in my tracks. "A guru? You had a _guru_? On Gallifrey?"

"Don't sound so surprised. I was rebellious even as a child, so I didn't often listen to my teachers. There was one man that I did listen to and he rarely spoke, but I always learned something form him. He lives near the top of Mount Cadon in a cave and I visited him once. He didn't live by the rules that the Time Lords set in the citadel. He lived by the Buddhist teachings from Earth and I know he would be the most willing of my people to help you."

Turning my head towards the mountain, I looked up at the peak that loomed far overhead and whistled under my breath. "It's a long way up to the _top_ , Theta," I mumbled into the phone.

"I know, but he won't turn you in to the Time Lords. He can help you, Diana, especially if something happens and I can't be with you. Please, at least try to find him. I need to know that you're safe."

I smiled, touched by the Doctor's genuine worry for me. I knew the Time Lords were not a very forgiving or accepting race and that I would need to be careful during my forced stay on the planet. "I will," was my whispered reply. "I promise."

The Doctor and I continued talking as I headed down the path again, keeping my eyes open and ears alert for signs of any other Gallifreyans. Half an hour later I was able to faintly make out the sound of running water over the Doctor's voice. Hope rose in my chest and a burst of energy shot through my body. Concussion forgotten, I raced forward with my phone pressed against my ear and a smile on my face. Far ahead of me and partially hidden by a line of silver-leafed trees was a small dip in the ground that followed the base of the mountain and then cut across part of the path.

"I found it," I breathed into my phone. "The river."

The Time Lord's sigh of relief sounded in my ear. "Thank goodness."

"Theta, I-." The sounds of voices coming from inside the line of trees made me stop myself mid sentence. Worried that it might be Theta and Koschei or, even worse, adult Time Lords, I skidded to a halt. "There's people. I can hear voices in the trees," I whispered.

"How close are you to the river?"

"Not very close, but there's nowhere to hide but the trees. Everything else is just-"

"Grass, I know. Just…" Exhaling heavily, the Doctor grumbled something incomprehensible under his breath. "Just make your way to the trees, but quietly."

My heart was pounding in my chest as I crept forward inch by inch, my footfalls almost entirely silent on the grass. I couldn't make out anything that the voices were saying because of their hushed tones and the river rushing nearby, but I could tell that it was the same two boys that I'd seen only a half hour ago: Theta Sigma and Koschei. My breath caught in my throat for a minute as I hid behind one of the trees and peered through the leaves at the two boys. They were sitting near on the river bank with their backs towards me and talking to one another, pointing to the stars or the moons and laughing softly.

 _Oh my boys,_ I thought sadly.

The Doctor's voice then drew me out of my thoughts, startling me enough to almost drop the phone. "Diana? _Diana!_ What's going on?"

The blonde haired boy froze and suddenly stopped talking. He turned his head just a fraction in my direction and I hurriedly ended the call before shoving my phone in my back pocket. Young Theta Sigma nudged his friend with a jab of his elbow as he turned around to look at the trees.

"Koschei," he whispered, "did you hear that?"

The dark haired boy whirled around and a chill ran down my spine as his dark, chocolate brown eyes skipped right over me. There was something off about that boy, something dark and terrible in his gaze that made my blood run cold. And yet, there was also a hint of innocence and curiosity in his eyes, something I had failed to see in any of the incarnations of the Master I had met.

"It's Ushas!" Koschei shout-whispered. "Come on!" the boy exclaimed as he jumped to his feet.

The boys thundered through the trees, thinking I was their friend. I peered through the silver leaves and watched the them scramble down the path in the reddish glow of the sky. It was strange to see them so young when I knew exactly what they would both grow up to become, a ruler and a healer.

Once the boys were out of sight, I turned around with a sigh and looked to the river. The water looked normal and blue like I was used to on Earth and the current didn't appear to be too strong that it would pull me under or drag me away. Very carefully, I stepped towards the riverbank and knelt on the ground. I extended one arm and dipped my hand into the water, pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't extremely cold or too hot. I reached my other hand into the water and cupped them to collect water, then quickly moved my hands to the back of my neck. I repeated that process a few times to try and wash some of the blood out of my hair, which ended with my torso being completely drenched.

The comfortable temperature of the water had cooled me down a little and once I knew I was alone, I felt much less anxious about being found. I wiped my hands on the sides of my thighs to avoid the blood I had wiped there before, then ran my fingers through my hair to push it out of my face. Another slightly warm breeze drifted through the trees and tousled my hair as I fell back on my rear.

I tilted my head back and looked through the leaves at the stars and moons in the night sky, still completely in awe of my location. It was difficult to believe that I was really on Gallifrey, although the physical evidence certainly proved that I wasn't dreaming. The many years I had spent following the Doctor back home combined with the months I had known him in real life meant that I sometimes wondered what it would be like to visit Gallifrey and see its famous red grass and burnt orange sky. But I had never thought it would be possible after what I knew of the Time War and what the Doctor's future selves would do to the planet.

My back pocket started vibrating then, bringing me out of my thoughts. I reached back and pulled my phone out to check the screen, thinking it would be the Doctor calling back after I hung up on him. To my surprise, it was someone else entirely.

"Missy?"

"Diana, love, it's so good to hear your voice."

I smiled and blushed slightly at the compliment. "Uh, i-it's good to hear you too," I stammered a little awkwardly.

"Tell me, dear, what are you up to? Could I tempt you in a little trip perhaps?"

I looked down at the river flowing at my feet and smirked. "I don't think that's going to be possible," I said with a laugh.

"Oh? Why's that?"

"You know how I time jump? Well, I've jumped somewhere I'm not supposed to be and there's now way out until the next time I jump."

Missy made some kind of sound at the back of her throat. "And where, exactly, are you?" she wondered.

I leaned back slightly and looked up at the leaves again. With a shrug, I answered, "Oh, you know. Gallifrey."

There was silence on Missy's end of the line for a moment. "Gallifrey?" she repeated, her voice suddenly turning a little Scottish. "Well, that's a bit farther than I was thinking."

"What did you have planned?" I questioned.

"Oh, just a day out at St Paul's Cathedral. Nothing much."

I shrugged as I stretched out my legs in the grass, supporting myself with my free arm. "Never been. You and the Doctor will have to take me sometime," I said with a faint smile.

Missy hummed in agreement. "Yes, we will," she answered softly. "So. Gallifrey, then?"

"Yeah. I'm as surprised as anyone else," I admitted. "You'd think since it's time locked I wouldn't be able to get here, but here I am. And there's no way to get out either. I called the Doctor and no matter what he tried, he couldn't get to me. I'm stuck here until the vortex decides it's time for me to leave again."

"I wish I could help, love."

"It's alright. It's not your fault."

"With me, you never really know," the woman joked.

I chuckled. "No, it's not. If anything, it's probably mine. Or the vortex. But, anyway I'm here now and the Doctor told me where I could go to find help and shelter. I just hope I'm not here for more than a few days."

"Do you know where you are?" Missy wondered.

Nodding my head, I replied, "Yeah, the Doctor told me I was at the foot of Mount Cadon. Which is apparently also where the Prydonian Academy is. He helped me find the river-"

"The Cadonflood River?" Missy interjected.

"Yes. How did you know?"

The woman cleared her throat and sighed. "Oh, you know the Doctor. He never shuts up and I have my ways of making people talk."

I raised my eyebrow in surprise, not having expected her to know very much about the Doctor's home planet. But I pushed the thought away because it wasn't important just then. "Right. Well, that's where I am. It's strange to be here. I never thought in a million years that I'd ever see this place, especially after the War. Although I think I'm here a few hundred years before the War."

"Did the Doctor find out time zone you appeared in?"

I shook my head, momentarily forgetting that she couldn't see it. "No, I… I saw somebody," I told her.

"Saw somebody? Who?"

A disbelieving laugh fell past my lips. "A young Theta Sigma and a young Koschei." Missy sucked in a breath at the mention of the Master's childhood name, which worried me. Perhaps she had met him and had a bad experience, like many of the Doctor's other companions. "Missy? Are you okay?"

"Hm? Oh, yes, yes," she said dismissively. "Do continue, my dear. You said the Doctor told you where to find help? I was… under the impression that Time Lords weren't fond of humans."

"That's what I thought too, but he said that he had a guru that lived near the top of the mountain and that he was more understanding than most other Time Lords."

Missy started to say something, but almost immediately cut herself off. I asked her again if she was okay and she only said that it was nothing important. I noticed that she was acting a little odd, even if she did normally sound and act a bit strange, but I was willing to look past it because that wasn't the most important thing in my mind. I was, after all, stuck on Gallifrey for an unknown amount of time until the vortex whirled me away to another time and another place.

I looked back up at the burnt orange sky and sighed. "I thought the night sky would be black, you know," I said. "But it's orange."

"The night sky is burnt orange, but is blue during the day," Missy explained.

"Wait, seriously?"

"You didn't know that?"

"No. How would I? I've never even been to Gallifrey before."

"Yes, you have."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise and confusion. "No, I haven't," I replied.

Missy laughed. "Yes, my dear, you have. The Death Zone is on Gallifrey and I know you've been there," she said.

"The Death Zone's on Gallifrey? I thought it was on some other planet."

"It's on Gallifrey, love. Just south of the equator. Another tidbit I learned from the Doctor," she said with another laugh.

I smiled. "Well then I guess it's a good thing I have you to be my personal map of Gallifrey," I teased. "At least until I can contact the Doctor again."

"Yes, until then," Missy answered, her voice trailing off at the end.

We both fell silent then as I continued to stare up at the night sky, while Missy seemed to be either listening to me or waiting for me to speak again. I didn't know what else to say to the woman because although I did enjoy her company, I didn't know her as well as I knew the Doctor's other companions.

"Missy?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes, love?"

"I'm going to call the Doctor again so this is probably stupid, but… would you tell him something for me the next time you see him?"

The woman exhaled softly. "Yes, of course, dear. What is it?"

"Tell him I love him."

Missy coughed lightly and then cleared her throat. "Yes, I'll tell him- Oh, hold on a moment, would you?"

"Sure."

I could just make out something talking on the other end of the line and it sounded like a man, although I didn't recognize the voice. Missy responded to him, but her voice was muffled and I couldn't catch more than few words. The man replied and then fell silent.

"Sorry about that, love."

"Who was that?"

"Oh, just one of my workers," she answered.

"You have a job?" I asked incredulously.

Missy made an amused sound and I could almost see her smiling knowingly at me. "Of course I do. A girl's got to do something when the Doctor isn't around. What better than a job?"

"What do you do?"

"Oh, that would be telling, wouldn't it? Let's just say I'm the director of a certain company that looks after people."

"Huh. You should show me around where you work someday."

"I promise I will," Missy answered softly. "And Diana?"

"Yes?"

"Make sure to rest before you go looking for that _guru_ of the Doctor's. The walk up that mountain can take a lot out of you."

I smiled, genuinely touched by Missy's apparent concern. "Alright," I said. "I will."

"Oh and one more thing," she added quickly. "Be careful. Please."

"Don't worry, Missy, I will. I promise."

Missy and I shared a goodbye before I ended the call. I looked down at my phone and considered calling the Doctor again, but what Missy had suggested echoed in my mind as I stared at my boyfriend's name on the screen. A rest would be good for me and the Doctor did tell me to wait and recover before starting up the mountain. Shoving the phone back into my pocket, I leaned back on both arms and gazed at the river.

There were a few birds in the trees that sang very quietly over the sound of the river. Watching the water flow by almost made me forget where I was because it looked like any other river you might find on Earth. But a glimpse of red grass drew me from that line of thought and I tilted my head down to get a better look at the grass. It looked like Earth grass, thin blades that were a little itchy to the touch but still soft and comfortable to sit on. It was odd knowing that only a few minutes ago Theta Sigma was sitting there with his best friend by his side, the two of them playing with the grass and listening to the river as they gazed up at the sky.

"Theta Sigma and Koschei," I whispered. "My Theta."

Letting out a sigh, I lay down on my back with my arms folded under my head. The sky was brighter than I was used to back home or even on the TARDIS, but with the birds singing and the river in the background it was easy for me to drift off to sleep.

* * *

 _"It's going to be alright. Just… Just close your eyes and I'll be there when you open them."_

 _I stood on the fire escape, looking down at the ground far below me._

 _"Just close your eyes."_

 _I looked over my shoulder and saw an angel frozen behind me, its face open mid snarl and its arm stretched towards me._

 _"I'll be with you the entire time. I'm staying with you, Diana. It's alright. Just close your eyes."_

 _I stepped closer to the edge of the fire escape and prepared to jump, feeling the wind tear at my hair. I kept my eyes on the angel as I threw myself into the air. Time seemed to slow suddenly as I fell, the angel suddenly gone. Spirals of gold materialized in the air as the angel suddenly appeared again and grabbed me by the neck. I clutched desperately at the angel's arm as I stared into its eyes and snarling mouth._

 _"No!" I shouted in terror._

 _The angel's other arm grabbed me by the shoulder and shook me._

 _"Just close your eyes," the Doctor's voice whispered in my ear._

 _I tried to push the angel away, but for some reason my body was frozen. The angel suddenly smiled and shook me violently._

 _"Just cl-"_

 _"_ Wake up! _"_

 _"-your eyes."_

 _I shook my head and fought against the angel. "No! Let me go!"_

 _"I'll be with you the entire time. Just close your eyes."_

 _The angel kept shaking me and since I couldn't fight it, I shut my eyes. Another push at my shoulder made me open my eyes again and-_

A young boy with short, jet black hair knelt beside me with his hands on my shoulders. He was wearing a red robe with a small collar of the same color around the neck of his robe. I looked up into the boy's dark eyes and had to look away almost immediately as a wave of dizziness washed over me. The boy sighed when he realized I was awake and stood up, his brows furrowing together.

"Who are you?" he asked seriously, his eyes narrowed. "I've never seen you at the Academy before. And what happened to you?"

"What?" I croaked after a moment.

"Your neck," he said as he pointed at me. "You have bruises. What happened?"

My hand flew up to grasp my throat and although I couldn't feel anything different on my skin, the movement caused me to wince painfully. As I tried to think of a response, images from my dream flooded my mind's eye and then my real memories began to rush through my brain. I suddenly remembered what had happened after the angels took me, I remembered what I did, and I remembered the angel trying to choke me as I slowly slipped away through the vortex.

"I died," I breathed.

The boy's mouth fell open in shock. "You regenerated?" he asked in surprise.

I looked up at the boy and felt my heart stop in my chest when I recognized him. It was the same boy who had run down the mountain with Theta Sigma. I looked into his eyes and saw a flash of cruelty amongst curiosity and wariness as he stared back at me. It was Koschei, the Master himself stood over me in a child's body.

Koschei looked over me in silent consideration, his eyes narrowing again. "If you regenerated, then how come you look like you've been attacked? Who are you really?"

"I-I didn't say I regenerated," I stammered nervously.

"But you said you died."

I shook my head and pushed myself up into a sitting position. "It's nothing, Koschei," I sighed.

"How do you know my name?"

 _Dammit,_ I thought as I grimaced.

Koschei suddenly lunged forward and grabbed my shoulder, his eyes burning cruelly as he stared down at me. "Who are you?" he asked in a deadly calm voice.

 **A/N: Don't forget to review!**


	3. Mount Cadon

**A/N: So I just started working and depression comes and goes, so writing has been a bit difficult. As a result, this chapter feels a little choppy and doesn't really flow properly. Hopefully it's not too bad, though. (Also, I may shorten my chapter lengths just to make writing easier for me while I kinda get over this stupid depression thing.)**

I stared up at the young boy in shock, not expecting his violent reaction. Yanking my shoulder from his grasp, I leaned backwards and nearly fell over. "Let _go!_ " I exclaimed.

"Tell em who you are," Koschei snapped.

I quickly struggled to my feet and took a few steps back to distance myself from the young Gallifreyan. His dark eyes stared straight into mine and for a few long moments, we stayed like that until another voice called out somewhere past the trees.

"Koschei! Koschei, are you here?" a young boy's voice called out.

Something told me that the boy could only be Theta Sigma and, with only a second or two of hesitation, I turned and ran towards the mountain as fast as I could. Koschei cried out as I bolted across the grass, but I didn't dare look back or stop. I followed the river to the very base of the mountain and then bolted up the incline, while the river itself turned away and continued to curve around the mountain. The red grass brushed my knees as I hurried up the side of Mount Cadon and although the incline strained my tired legs, I forced myself to keep running. Somehow I knew that I couldn't let Koschei or Theta learn too much about me in case it changed the future.

After a few minutes, my pace had slowed significantly and I was breathing heavily. My foot slipped on a large rock and I lurched forward with a gasp. My hands scraped painfully against the dirt and grass when I landed. I took a minute to let my breathing return to normal while I stayed splayed out on my stomach in the grass. Turning slightly to look over my shoulder, I peered down at the river and the two boys that lingered near the riverbank in the shade of a large tree. One boy was looking up at the mountain in my direction and although I couldn't see his eyes, I knew they were searching for me.

As I lay in the red grass and Gallifrey's twin suns shone overhead, I realized that Koschei's interest in me would never truly stop. Even in his last incarnation, which I had met only briefly, he still seemed to be obsessed with me and my powers. I wondered then if maybe his fascination with me all stemmed from this moment, our first meeting on Gallifrey.

Shaking my head, I cleared my mind of those thoughts and pushed myself up so I was standing. I had to find the Doctor's guru if I wanted someone to help me and I wouldn't do it just laying lazily in the dirt. I took a few deep breaths to settle myself before I started walking again.

* * *

The trek up the mountain lasted what felt like an eternity and by the time I had reached the beginnings of slushy snow, the two suns had already crossed to the other side of the sky. Through the patches of snow were countless pebbles and rocks scattered beneath dead grass. It occurred to me then, as I trudged through the snow, that maybe I should have called the Doctor again to ask for help in case his guru was on the other side of the mountain. But just as I started to pull my phone out from my back pocket, something caught my eye a few hundred yards up the mountain. Through the patches of snow was a single tree, its trunk and branches knotted and twisted with age. And sitting below the tree in traditional Buddhist robes was an old man with a long, white beard and a shaved head.

The man smiled when I met his eyes and he extended one thin, almost skeletal arm to encourage me forward with a wave. "I have been waiting for you," he called from his seat beneath the tree. "Come, please."

Confused and intrigued, I hurried the remaining distance up the mountain before finally collapsing in front of the man. I fell to my knees with an exhausted sigh, not caring that snow was seeping through my clothes. I stared silently at the man and waited for him to explain himself, but when he spoke he said something I hadn't expected.

"What is your name?"

My widened in surprise, but I answered the question anyway. "Themba," I said.

"Themba?" he repeated slowly, one eyebrow raised slightly. His tone suggested that he didn't quite believe me.

I quickly tried to think of a way to convincingly elaborate on the name, like the Doctor suggested. I thought of the the only two Time Ladies whose names I knew and momentarily considered using their names, but then I realized that doing so might put both of my friends into trouble. So instead I borrowed the last few syllables of Romana's name and added it to the nickname the Doctor had given me in the hopes that it would sound convincing. "Thembalundar," I said after a few moments.

The man smiled knowingly. "I am K'anpo Rimpoche," he said simply.

"How did you know I was coming?"

K'anpo pressed a finger to his temple. "As a Time Lord, I see fixed points and quivers in time easier than Gallifreyans who have not had my training."

"Me coming here is a fixed point?"

"Yes," he answered with a nod.

I shook my head in disbelief. "How? I haven't done anything."

"Many things are still to happen, things that will shape the future and those around you, and those moments have not yet been decided. What happens while you are here will determine the future."

I looked over my shoulder and down at the river that shimmered far below. "Like when I met the Master- _Koschei_ ," I breathed. I gazed at the river and the silver trees around it for a minute before I glanced back at K'anpo. "The Doctor told me to go to you. He said you could help me. Can you?"

K'anpo smiled and nodded. "I can tell you how to survive on this planet, _where_ to survive, until it is time for you to leave."

"Wait," I interjected. "How did you know about me? About how I come and go?"

The Doctor's guru chuckled and suddenly stood up. "I know many things about you, Diana Scott," he said before turning and walking away.

I stared after him in shock for a moment before I realized that he was walking into a small cave in the side of the mountain. I scrambled to my feet and hurried after the Time Lord as he entered the cave. It was then that I suddenly realized why K'anpo Rimpoche's name had sounded so familiar to me when he told me: he was the Time Lord who had helped Three through his regeneration.

"Wait a second!" I exclaimed.

K'anpo raised his hand in a signal for me to be silent. He paused mid step and I watched worriedly as his brows furrowed together. He seemed to be mentally searching for something and then, only a few moments later, he made a sound in the back of his throat and muttered, "Interesting."

"What?" I asked. "What is it?"

"I know now where I must send you," he said cryptically before walking through the cave again.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I wondered.

K'anpo gestured to the ground before settling down himself. I copied his movements and sat across from him in confusion, still waiting for him to explain what he meant and how he would help me. The Time Lord extended his arm and began tracing a pattern in the dirt spread over the floor. I leaned forward and slowly began to realize that K'anpo was drawing a map in the dirt.

"Is... Is that Mount Cadon?" I asked as I pointed at a triangle he had drawn.

"Hush, child." The Time Lord continued drawing the map while I watched. As he did so, he suggested, "You will want to save this somehow. I suspect you know how."

My hand immediately went to my back pocket and grabbed at my phone through the fabric. "Yeah, I-I do," I said a little absently.

Once the map was finished, K'anpo began explaining to me where we were and where I needed to go. "I live here, on the south side of Mount Cadon," he said as he pointed at the mountain on the map, "but you will need to go back to the north side first. From there, the quickest and easiest path is to go directly west until you reach this lake, Magni Tenebrosa. Then you should follow the northern edge of the lake until you pass the second mountain range."

"What's in between the two ranges?" I questioned as I pointed to the valley he had drawn.

"The Citadel," K'anpo said simply.

I felt my eyes widen. "Oh," I murmured.

"Now," K'anpo continued as he pointed to various spots on the impromptu map, "once you've reached the northern most spot of the lake, you must head west again. But stay close to the water's edge so you have easy access to water, food, and shelter. You will eventually come across a tribe or two, there are plenty along the lake and nearby the mountains as well."

I snapped a quick photo of the map and sent a text to myself giving all the instructions K'anpo had given me. Then I replaced my phone in my pocket and gave the Time Lord all my attention. "Thank you," I said softly. "I know most Time Lords aren't very accepting of outsiders, especially humans. So thank you for helping me."

I looked back at the map and thought for a moment. "This walk from Mount Cadon to the lake. How long is it?"

"No longer than nine days, but no shorter than five. You will need food and water to last you until you reach Magni Tenebrosa."

"I don't have anything to store food or water in though. I could put food in my pockets if I needed to, but I have nothing for water."

K'anpo raised a single finger and then stood up. He walked across the cave and picked up a small sack that lay in a heap on the floor. Then he returned to my side and handed the sack to me. "I have awaited you for many months now," he said before sitting down again. "I knew you would require my assistance, so I prepared what I could for you."

I opened the flap on top of the sack, which had been secured by a small stick through a loop of twine. Inside the sack was a flask that looked to be full of water, as well as dried and smoked meat that looked similar to jerky strips from back on Earth. I looked back at K'anpo and smiled both in surprise and in thanks.

"Thank you so much," I gasped. "I never would've made you do this for me, but... I appreciate it so much. Thank you!"

K'anpo smiled slightly and nodded in understanding. "You are more than welcome, but I do not require any more thanks from you, Diana Scott. However, I will request one more thing from you before you leave."

"Yes?"

"Do not let him see you. Any disruption of Theta Sigma's future path will end in the most terrible of ways. You must be cautious."

I nodded seriously and held the sack tightly against my chest. "I understand, K'anpo," I answered.

"Good. Then rest here tonight, child, and tomorrow you may start your journey to the Wastelands."

With that, K'anpo stood up again and left the cave to sit beneath the old, knotted tree outside. I watched him for a few moments before readjusting so I was laying on my stomach on the cave floor with the Time Lord's map scrawled in the dirt beside me. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed one of the few numbers I had in my contact list. Just four rings later, the Doctor answered the phone and I could almost picture him with his bow tie and floppy hair.

"Hello?"

"Theta?"

"Oh! Hello!" he exclaimed happily.

I smiled and closed my eyes as I rested my chin in my free hand. "Do you have a minute?" I asked softly. "I just wanna talk."

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just miss you," I sighed.

 **A/N: Thoughts?**


	4. On The Banks of The Cadonflood

**A/N: The events that are written about in this chapter come from the big finish audio, 'Master' featuring the Seventh Doctor and Geoffrey Beevers' Master. It's an amazing audio that I have listened to twice already and recommend to anyone who is curious about the Master and the Doctor's beginnings. I also have the file ready for emailing if anyone doesn't feel like buying it. ;)**

The next day, K'anpo woke me shortly before sunrise. He made sure I was well prepared for the journey ahead of me before bidding me farewell and sending me down the mountain. I took my time returning to the base of the mountain, taking note of the way the snow was slightly tinted orange in the sunrise and admiring the beauty of the stones that were pink, brown, red, and a dozen other colors.

I readjusted K'anpo's gifted satchel over my shoulder as a thought suddenly came to me. I remembered that even though the Doctor had not always been fond of the Time Lords, he still greatly missed his home planet. Hoping that my idea was in fact a good one, I pulled out my phone and took a series of pictures of Gallifrey's stunning landscape. Further down the mountain were the beautiful daisies the Doctor would later recall and I took a beautiful picture of the stretch of flowers with the Cadonflood shining far below.

After I felt I had taken enough pictures, I place my phone in my pocket again and continued my trek to the base of Mount Cadon. By the time I passed through the snow and daisies and finally reached the red grass towards the base of the mountain, my legs and feet ached and it was already mid afternoon. I hurried the rest of the way down the mountain as fast as I dared and made for one of the larger trees that stood along the riverbank. The shade of the tree's silver leaves was a wonderful relief from the intense heat of Gallifrey's twin suns and the river's water splashed on my face immediately began to cool my heated face.

Leaning back against the tree's trunk, I sighed and closed my eyes with a smile. Speaking with the Doctor over the phone the night before and receiving K'anpo's help had made me feel just a little less hopeless about my situation. I had a plan and a map and a phone in case I needed help from the Doctor or even Jack or Missy. Letting out another sigh, I hugged the satchel against my chest and stayed there under the tree for close to an hour. I eventually decided that if I was going to stay by the river that night and start for the other side of the mountain the next day, I needed better shelter in case more Gallifreyans (specifically Theta and Koschei) came by the river. I had just barely found a place well hidden behind a group of large trees that was blanketed with tall, thick red grass when the two boys I had been hoping to avoid came running towards the river.

Stifling a gasp, I lay flat on my stomach with the grass ending mere inches above my head as the boys ran to the river's edge. Theta reached the water first and when Koschei caught up to him, he playfully pushed against his friend's shoulder as he joked about pushing Theta into the water. Theta pushed Koschei in return and stuck out his tongue at the other boy. I watched in stunned silence as the two began playing on the banks of the river, occasionally splashing each other and throwing handfuls of scarlet grass in each other's faces. They carried on like that long enough for the suns to move even closer to the horizon and eventually they wore themselves out with their horseplay. I peered through the grass, still on my stomach, as they sat down on the very edge of the river bank, their legs dangling in the water and their backs facing me.

I remembered all the times the two would fight in the future and knowing that they would loose the close bond they had formed as children nearly broke my heart. I couldn't help but wonder what had caused them to draw apart in the first place and why. They seemed so close to each other that it seemed unlikely the two boys would ever fall apart. So what would happen to change all that?

Suddenly, bursting out from behind the trees only a few yards to my left, another boy appeared. He was wearing a red cloak with brown trousers and a loose, white shirt and the cloak fluttered dramatically behind him as he rushed towards the two boys. At first I thought maybe he was a friend of one or both children, but I realized how wrong I was when the strange boy went up behind Koschei and shoved him headfirst into the river. While Koschei was struggling to get out of the water, the boy shoved Theta to the side and then jumped into the river. He grabbed Koschei by the throat and forced his head under the water.

I jumped to my feet and nearly rushed forward to stop the boy, but then I remembered K'anpo's warning. I couldn't change what was to come in case in threatened Theta's future. But the urge to protect the young Doctor and Master was so strong that I almost couldn't restrain myself. The boy was laughing as he continued to hold Koschei's head under the water, the laughing only stopping for a few moments at a time when he would have to push Koschei under the water again.

Watching Koschei being tormented was too much to bear, despite who and what he would one day become. Just as I stepped out from behind the trees to stop the boy drowning him, Theta suddenly leapt to his feet. He started looking around the ground and then bent over to pick something up: a rock. With rage burning in his eyes, young Theta Sigma rushed forward with the rock gripped tightly in his hand. He stepped into the river and raised his arm, drawing the other boy's attention and making him pull away from Koschei. Then Theta's arm came down and the rock in his hand smashed against the other boy's skull.

I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. All the air suddenly rushed out and I stumbled back in shock, leaning heavily against one of the trees for support. The boy collapsed into the river with blood flowing profusely from the open gash in his head just above his left eye. Theta dropped the rock and reached into the river to help Koschei stand up, both boys clinging to one another as they stared down at the third boy's lifeless and bloody body. The river was stained red within moments and the boys stood in the middle of the current while blood continued to flow around them.

Theta was frozen as he stared at the boy's body, terror and shock written plainly on his face, and Koschei's expression was almost identical. I could barely believe what I had just seen, who I had just watched commit murder. It wasn't Koschei, the boy who would one day become the universe's greatest psychopath and killer, but Theta, the _Doctor_.

Theta suddenly turned to his friend and stared hopelessly at him. "Koschei," he said, "Koschei, what do we do?"

Koschei continued to stare at the the third boy's body. "We... We have to get rid of him," he said softly, his voice wavering slightly.

Theta's voice shook so much that he couldn't say more than a few words at a time. "But... We can't."

"We _have_ to. What someone discovered what happened, what you did?"

"But I was only... only trying to save you," Theta stammered.

"If we're arrested, we'll never be able to leave this place, Theta. We'll be stuck on this planet forever."

Even from my spot in the trees I could see that Theta was terrified. His entire body was trembling and his face was still frozen in shock. "What do we do?" he asked after a long moment.

Koschei was silent for a minute or two before he finally pointed a shaking finger at the dead boy's body. "Help me pull him out," he said.

I stumbled back into the shelter of the trees when the call of a strange bird startled me. I fell to my knees and silently watched the two boys pull the still bleeding body from the river. They settled the boy's body on the bank of the river, his blood and the grass nearly the same color. Then Koschei look up at the tree that leaned over the river and an idea seemed to spark in his head.

"Help me grab those branches," he told Theta.

Wordlessly, both Theta and Koschei began pulling the low lying branches from the tree trunk and laying them over the dead boy's body. However, there weren't enough branches from the single tree to cover the body and they had to take more branches from the trees I was hiding in. Scared of being seen by Theta and them discovering that I had witnessed the entire scene, I quickly grabbed my satchel and strapped it over my shoulder. As the boys started towards me, I grabbed a stone from the ground and threw it towards the river in an attempt to distract them long enough for me to get away.

"What was that?" Theta asked in a panic after hearing the stone splash in the water.

I scrambled to my feet and began running as fast as I could in the opposite direction of the river. As I ran down the path in the direction K'anpo had instructed me to go in, the image of Theta smashing the rock against the other boy's skull kept flashing before my eyes. The rage in his eyes before the attack, the terror written on his face afterwards, the shock on Koschei's face when he realized what his friend had done for him.

Fear of being caught and fear of what I had seen kept me running, even though I was already tired and sore from my day long trek down Mount Cadon. I hadn't realized how far I had gone until I recognized the tree that I first woke up beneath two days earlier when I first arrived on Gallifrey. I leaned heavily against the tree as I tried to slow my breathing, occasionally looking over my shoulder to see if Theta or Koschei had followed me.

 _He killed him_ , I said to myself in shock. _He's just a child and he's already killed someone._

I knew that the Doctor wasn't innocent. He had killed before, he had even been willing to kill his own people at one point although those circumstances were extreme and rare, but seeing him as a young child and so full of rage had shaken me to my very core. But then I remembered how terrified he had looked and could only imagine what he thought of himself because of what he did. He couldn't be more than eight or nine years old, maybe even ten, and he was perhaps already afraid of himself and what he was capable of. That fear would never go away.

I looked over my shoulder and although the river and the trees were hidden behind the curve of the mountain, I stared in their direction as if I could actually see Theta and Koschei. I knew they would be busying themselves with getting rid of the body and afterwards, they would come in my direction to return to the Academy. I would have to leave to avoid being seen, so I turned around and faced the open fields of red grass that seemed to endlessly stretch out before me. Then I looked up at the sky to see that the twin suns had started to set on my left, the direction K'anpo told me to go until I reached the lake.

"Brave heart, Diana," I told myself as I readjusted the satchel's strap over my shoulder. "Brave heart."

 **A/N: I know it's short, but I'd love to know what you all thought.**


	5. Journey to the Wastelands

**A/N: My apologies for being absent so long. I lost absolutely all desire to write for a long time and, to be quite honest, wasn't interested in this story for a few weeks. (Sorry, my girlfriend's just more interesting ;P )**

I walked until the two suns set below the horizon, often looking over my shoulder out of fear of being spotted. The grass was tall enough to hide me if I lay down flat on the ground, so once I stopped for the night I felt just sheltered enough to not be afraid of being spotted. However, I couldn't sleep for many long hours. The burnt orange hue of the night sky combined with the horror I had seen hours earlier only made it more difficult for me to fall asleep. I briefly considered calling the Doctor, but even hearing his voice would be difficult after what I had seen.

Staring up at the sky and gazing at unfamiliar constellations, I suddenly felt more alone than I had ever felt before. The Doctor was beyond my reach at his young age, as well as incapable of rescuing me, and I had no friends on Gallifrey except K'anpo, whom I had left behind in favor of the Wastelands that were still miles away. But I reminded myself that although I may not be ready to speak to the Doctor just yet, I did have two other friends I could easily talk to. I realized then that it had been weeks since I'd last seen or spoken to Jack and once I realized that, I missed him more than ever. He had always been so understanding and helpful that I almost immediately pulled my phone out to call him.

It was comforting to hear his voice and despite the fact that I knew the Doctor most likely wouldn't want me to talk about what I had seen, I needed to for my own sanity and peace of mind. Jack seemed to understand why I was so shaken up by the boy's death while he also understood why Theta had apparently snapped when his friend was nearly drowned. He helped to soothe my fears and worries, as well as comfort me while I panicked over being stuck on a foreign planet with no friends or escape.

Jack and I set up a schedule where I would call him every night before I went to sleep and since my days only consisted of walking through endless field of grass under burning suns, Jack would tell me the adventures he and the Torchwood team had been up to. For a whole week we communicated like that until one day I noticed that my phone was malfunctioning. It seemed to glitch sometimes and every few minutes the call would become scratchy and muffled so that I could barely understand anything Jack was saying. He had Tosh try and scan my phone from the Hub, but the only thing they could figure out about my phone was that the time lock around Gallifrey was somehow effecting my phone. We decided I would only call once every few days so that my phone wouldn't glitch as often, which meant I was left alone with my thoughts and worries more often than not.

Nine days after I left Mount Cadon and the Cadonflood River behind, I reached the edge of Magni Tenebrosa. The lake was enormous and stretched beyond the horizon in nearly every direction. K'anpo's instructions had been to turn north once I reached the lake, but I decided one day of rest before continuing my trek wouldn't hurt. I refilled my water flask and rested by the water's edge for a few hours before finally deciding to go for a swim. I slipped my shoes and pants off and then waded into the water up to my waist, but I didn't dare to go any farther due to my fear of deep water. Instead I splashed water over my arms and torso to rinse off the dirt that had accumulated there over the last nine days. Then I rinsed my hair out before laying back in the water and floating on the surface while I gazed up at the sky.

Water sloshed around in my ears as I continued to float, but I didn't care or try to keep the water from flooding my eardrums. So much had happened so quickly that I had spent the last nine days trying to comprehend it all. I stopped having nightmares about the angels and how I fell to my death, and instead dreamt about the moment when Theta Sigma took the nameless boy's life with rage burning in his eyes. Those nightmares haunted me even in my waking hours when I walked through the endless fields of red grass.

After my bath in the lake, I shuffled back onto dry land and pulled my pants and shoes back on. Even though I was still soaking wet, I could live with wet clothes because I wasn't about to sit nearly half naked on an alien planet. I spent the rest of the day relaxing on the sandy bank of the lake, gazing either at the sky or the beauty of the lake and the grass rustling on its shores. By the time the two suns had set below the horizon, I had already grown tired despite my mostly uneventful day. I fell asleep surprisingly fast and for the first time, didn't dream of angels or young boys with fiery rage in their eyes.

The next day, I started my journey again and headed north along the edge of the lake. I followed the lake for another five days, walking along each twist and turn of the shoreline until I finally reached what could only be the northernmost tip of the lake. The lake no longer stretched on across the horizon and instead made a sharp turn to the left, then continued to west. As K'anpo had told me, I passed two mountain ranges along my journey up the coast of Magni Tenebrosa. The second range was still in sight and close enough for me to travel there within a day's walk. But I knew that the Citadel lay behind those mountains and if I went there, I would not be welcomed at all.

Instead of letting those worries trouble me, I pushed them out of my mind and followed K'anpo's instructions to turn west once more. Only a day's walk later, I could see that the grass had started to give way to huge sand dunes. I was suddenly stricken by fear at the sight. Time Lords weren't fond of outsiders and although those that lived in the Wastelands were not as hateful as those in the Citadel, I couldn't help but worry that I might not be taken into a tribe and instead left to live on my own. I was nearly out of food and I didn't know how to hunt or provide shelter or protection for myself.

Two days after I left the mountains behind, I was sitting on the shore of the lake and staring out at the water as the fiery colors of the sunset reflected off the water's surface. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my phone and called Jack. It had been long enough since our last call and I was eager for some kind of company or human contact. I quickly told him everything that had happened since our last call, which wasn't much, and let him tell me about the trouble Owen had gotten into the other day at a bar and the new woman who had joined the Torchwood team, as well as the previous member who had died only a few days ago.

The suns had just set below the horizon when Jack and I said goodbye. I stuffed my phone into my satchel and prepared to take another bath in the lake when a deep voice suddenly sounded somewhere behind me. I gasped and looked over my shoulder to see a large and very scary looking man dressed in animal skins and tattered Time Lord clothing looming over me, the spear in his right hand pointed at my head.

"Who are you?" he snarled. "And why are you here?"

 **A/N: Please please please review!**


	6. Who is Thembalundar?

"I asked you a question girl!"

I flinched at the man's harsh tone and stared at his spear in terror. "M-My name is Thembalundar!" I exclaimed after a moment.

"What are you doing here? Are you a spy from the Citadel?"

"What? No! No, I'm not from the Citadel," I explained quickly.

The man narrowed his eyes at me. "Then where are you from, girl?"

I swallowed nervously and stammered, "M-Mount Cadon."

"Mount Cadon?" he repeated incredulously. "Are you from the Academy?"

"Yes!" I answered, nodding enthusiastically. "Yes, I was at the Academy. But I wanted to leave, so I... I came here."

"That's a long journey. You had better not be lying to me, girl."

I shook my head and finally looked the man in the eyes. "I'm not. I swear, I'm not," I said seriously.

The man thought in silence for a few moments before pulling his spear away from my face. "I'll bring you to Nesbin. He'll know what to do with you." Then he suddenly reached forward and grabbed me by the arm, dragging me to my feet. "If you try to escape, you'll regret it."

* * *

Some time later, after zigzagging around a few large sand dunes and walking through a deep quarry, we approached a small campsite. There was a woman standing guard with a spear grasped in her left hand and behind her was the camp, illuminated by the light of a small fire in the center of a group of tents. The woman straightened when she saw my captor and I, her hand tightening around her spear.

"Who is she?" she asked.

"Where is Nesbin?" my captor inquired, ignoring the woman's question entirely.

"She returned from her hunt earlier today while you were patrolling."

Merely nodding in response, my captor tugged on my arm and dragged me beside him into the camp. There weren't any people out, so I assumed they were all in their tents asleep like I wanted to be. The largest tent of all was the one I was directed to, which I assumed belonged to the Nesbin my captor had referred to. The tent was dome shaped with a large flap of fabric in front that was held up by two thick, wooden posts. The door was another flap of fabric split down the middle and I was quickly pushed through it with my captor right behind me.

"Nesbin," my captor began, "please excuse my intrusion, but I found this girl by the edge of the lake. She was all alone and communicating with someone on a strange device."

Inside the tent was a middle aged woman sitting on a small, wooden chair. She seemed to have been previously relaxing when my captor and I suddenly barged into her home. I glanced hesitantly at the woman, wondering if she would be the one to decide my fate. She had waist length light brown hair that was kept partially out of her face by a leather headband. A large cloak of animal fur was draped over her shoulders and she wore the same tattered Time Lord clothing that my captor wore.

"Who were you communicating with?" Nesbin asked me, her eyes suddenly turning to fix on me.

"A friend," I answered softly. "But not a Time Lord. Not anyone from the Citadel. I'm not a spy."

"Then what are you doing all the way out here?"

"I ran away. I-I was at the Academy, the Prydonian Academy, and I left. I wanted to come here."

Nesbin raised an eyebrow at me. "Why is that?"

The image of Theta beating the boy to death flashed before my eyes. "I saw something," I whispered, my throat suddenly choked with tears. I bowed my head and closed my eyes as I tried to push the image out of my head. "A friend of mine, he... killed somebody. He was just trying to protect his friend, but I've never seen him do something like that before. I was so scared, I just ran..."

I trailed off as I focused on the memory of Theta's murder. Tears had started to form in my eyes, but they quickly faded away when Nesbin addressed me again.

"This friend you were communicating with. Was it the same person?"

I shook my head. "No. A different friend. He was just trying to comfort me, but he doesn't know anything about you or your people. I didn't even know about you."

Nesbin looked back at my captor. "Where is her communication device?"

My captor took my satchel from over his shoulder and handed it to Nesbin. "All of her belongings are in there. She had nothing else."

"Thank you, Ablif, you may go now. I will speak to this young lady alone."

Ablif looked like he was about to object, but after one look from Nesbin, he nodded in silence and left the tent. I turned my attention back to Nesbin and waited anxiously for her to speak again. She opened my satchel and began looking through my things.

"You don't have much," she noted. Pulling out my phone, she looked over it with narrowed eyes. "Is this your communication device?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"I have never seen anything like this before." After fiddling with it a few minutes longer, her eyes widened in surprise. "This is not from Gallifrey. I am absolutely sure of it, yet... there is TARDIS technology in here." My heart skipped a beat as Nesbin slowly brought her gaze from the phone to my eyes. "Who are you?"

"Thembalundar," I said slowly.

"Did you create this, Thembalundar?"

I shook my head. "No. My... husband did. He travels the universe in his own TARDIS."

Nesbin narrowed her eyes at me. "You said you were from the Prydonian Academy. How can you have a husband already? You look younger than your first half century. Tell me the truth only, young lady. I do not tolerate liars."

"He's not my husband yet," I admitted. "Every time I see him, he is in a different incarnation. Some incarnations we are engaged, some we're married, some we're only friends. It's easier to say he's my husband because we're already together."

"Together?"

"I'm not engaged yet, but we still have a close romantic relationship."

"I see." Nesbin looked at my phone again. "And this device of yours. He made it?"

"He based it on Earth technology, but modified for me. With the help of his TARDIS."

"Then who was this friend you were speaking to? Your future husband?"

"No, someone else. I travel with him and when we travel, we go to other planets and meet other people. The friend I was speaking to is from Earth, but I told him nothing about you or your people here."

Nesbin, who had been closely watching me as I explained myself, finally nodded after I finished. Most of what I had said was true, but I hoped that the small lies I had told were believable enough. I watched as Nesbin placed my phone in the satchel again.

"I believe you. But I know that there are also many things you are withholding from me. I will overlook that for now because I know that a person like yourself could not come from the Citadel."

"A person like me...?"

"You are too sensitive, too young, to be a Time Lord, let alone a spy of any kind. But you will still have to earn my full trust."

"I'll do anything," I said quickly. "I don't know very much about living on my own. I-I can't hunt or anything, but I can learn fast and I won't cause any trouble. I promise."

Nesbin nodded. "I should hope so, Thembalundar. I should hope so."

 **A/N: Hopefully this chapter wasn't too bad. I'd love to know what you all thought, so please leave a review.**


	7. Life in the Wastelands

**A/N: I'm not entirely pleased with this chapter, but I wanted you guys to get this as soon as possible. Also, I posted a picture of the characters mentioned on my pinterest.**

Nesbin called Ablif back into her tent and instructed him to look after me. I was to stay with Ablif in his tent until I had learned to hunt and was able to make a home of my own. She whispered a few more instructions to him before finally dismissing us. Ablif guided me out of the tent and through the small encampment to his own dwelling, where he made a makeshift bed out of blankets for me.

"You can sleep here," he grumbled as he settled on his own bed. "Once you learn how to hunt and can make your own kills, you will have your own bed and shelter."

I nodded slowly as I moved to sit on top of the blankets, my satchel clutched against my chest. "Okay," I said softly.

"Now sleep. We will wake at dawn tomorrow and start your training," Ablif said gruffly before lying back on his bed.

Ablif fell asleep within minutes and began snoring soon after. I was still sitting upright on the thin blankets he had arranged for me, but I knew that it would be a long time before I was able to sleep properly with Ablif snoring like a bear beside me. Sighing, I moved so I was lying on my back and had my satchel arranged as a pillow under my head. Suddenly everything was uncomfortable: my clothes, the blankets, the temperature. I turned onto my side and stared at the side of the tent, which I could barely see in the darkness. Just a few moments later I moved so I was resting on my other side and let out another sigh as I tried to settle into a comfortable position.

* * *

"Wake up, girl."

I was woken by Ablif shaking me by the shoulder. Feeling slightly disoriented and still very exhausted, I groaned in frustration. Ablif sighed and moved to the other side of the tent where he began to pull on his cloak. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and, after contemplating the pros and cons of going back to sleep, forced myself to sit up.

"Leave your things here. You won't need them."

"What do you mean?" I asked nervously.

Ablif glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and said, "You'll be a little busy training, girl."

With a wave of his hand, Ablif gestured for me to follow him. He guided me outside the tent in silence and to the center of the small encampment where a group of five women, including Nesbin, were waiting for us. They were all standing near the remains of the previous night's fire with a pile of spears by their feet. One of the women, the one who had been on guard when Ablif brought me to the camp, was holding her spear and staring directly at me with an emotionless expression.

"Thank you, Ablif," Nesbin said with a nod in his direction. "You may go now"

Ablif nodded in response before leaving me with the women. Nesbin gestured to the other women with her hand. "Thembalundar, these are your new teachers. They are the best warriors in the tribe and will teach you how to defend yourself."

I nodded wordlessly as I stared straight at Nesbin, too scared to look at the other women. "This," Nesbin continued as she gestured to the dark skinned woman on her left, "is Madeliefraturen and this is Kyra, " she said in reference to the woman who had been on guard the night before.

The two women nodded in acknowledgement, but their faces were void of any emotions so I couldn't tell just what they might bethinking about me. Nesbin crossed her arms over her chest and exaled through her nose as she looked at me. "They will help you train and learn to fight, as well as hunt when the time comes."

"Nesbin says you are from the Prydonian Academy," Kyra said.

"Y-Yes," I stammered with a tiny nod.

"That's a very long journey."

I nodded again and quickly glanced away, letting my eyes fall to the ground. "It was. It took... eighteen days."

"You were very brave to travel across the Endless Fields on your own," Madeliefraturen added. "It is too easy to get lost in those fields."

Nesbin cleared her throat suddenly, drawing Kyra and Madeliefraturen's attention, as well as mine. "I shall be in my tent if I am needed," she said before turning and heading towards her tent.

"Nesbin says you're much like Anoukelsu," Kyra commented. "Timid and young and unable to fight."

"Who's Anoukelsu?" I asked softly.

"Another recent addition to the tribe from the Cerulean Academy. She'll join us later this afternoon for training."

"What would you like us to call you?" Madeliefraturen suddenly asked. "Themba, perhaps?"

I swallowed and nodded once. "Yes please," I murmured.

"Good. You can call me Madelie, then."

"O-Okay."

* * *

Self defense training was both easier and more difficult than I had anticipated. Madelie was a strong and capable warrior, but she was surprisingly patient and gentle with me. Kyra was more quiet and reserved, but there was a fire in her eyes that burned in the way she both fought and instructed me. They took me to the lake and began my training there, teaching me first how to block an attack and how to use my opponent's momentum against them. After training from dawn to noon, we took a break to eat and cool off until the suns were a little lower in the sky. Then Anoukelsu would join us in the afternoons and she would learn more fighting techniques while I was taught to improve my strength.

Each day was spent the same way, training and muscle building, and each evening I would pass out in Ablif's tent and sleep soundly until dawn the next day. I was exhausted nearly every day, but was desperate to prove myself to my teachers and to Nesbin. I didn't want to be thrown out for being too weak or useless, so I did my best to keep my complaints to myself and always did exactly what was asked of me.

After the first month, I had grown strong and lean enough to begin learning to fight. The diet I had been forced to eat on Gallifrey was composed of whatever creatures lived in the lake, as well as the native animals of the Wastelands and any vegetation that grew in the desert-like terrain, which meant that I had lost some weight. The more I trained and fought, the leaner and stronger I became until I could finally beat Anoukelsu in a fair fight. I worked hard on my fighting and eventually learned how to handle the simple weapons the Gallifreyans had been forced to use as protection and hunting tools.

Madelie, Anoukelsu, and I had become close friends surprisingly fast during our first month together. Kyra was hesitant to trust me, which I could understand, but although we weren't close I could tell she was impressed with all the hard work I put into my training. Even if she would never admit it to anyone, let alone myself. Anoukelsu invited me to stay in her tent with her instead of living with Ablif and I quickly agreed to her offer, preferring her company to that of gruff and grumpy Ablif who snored all night long.

Despite training, fighting, and even hunting nearly every single day, I found myself growing sad and lonely. I missed the Doctor and the TARDIS with every fiber of my being. Their companionship was something I was used to having all the time and not knowing when I might see them next, if at all, troubled me deeply. I had come to terms with Theta's unfortunate accident and understood why he had done what he did, and I was ready to see him again. But every time I tried to contact him with my phone, the call never made it through all the way.

Instead of focusing on the fact that I couldn't contact the Doctor or any of my other friends, I focused solely on my training and on becoming a better fighter. I learned how to hunt yaddlefish, a fish found in the lake that was brightly colored and tasted remarkably like cod, as well as tafelshrews and trunkikes. I learned how to throw a spear and take down prey, and how to use a knife. I learned how to skin an animal, although the first ten times I ended up losing my dinner at some point. I learned how to sew tafelshrew furs together to make a cloak, then how to make my own tent out of the same furs and skins.

Three months after I had joined the tribe, I lay awake one night staring up at the sky outside my tent. For some reason I missed the Doctor more than ever before that night. I stared up at the still mostly unfamiliar constellations through the orange sky and felt tears well in my eyes. After so many months of being strong and brave, I finally broke down. I was living a lie on an alien world, surrounded by people who would surely cast me out if they knew who I really was, while the man I loved was somewhere out there waiting for me to return to him. I wondered, not for the first or the last time, how long it would be until I saw my Doctor again.

 **A/N: Please don't forget to review!**


	8. Spies From the Capitol

**A/N: So it's short and I had to rush the ending a bit because of time restraints, but here's the latest chapter. I promise you more Doctor chapters very soon, just be patient. Check pinterest for pictures of the new OCs!**

I woke up one day, nearly four months after joining Nesbin's tribe, to shouting just outside my tent. Scrambling to my feet in a confused panic, I rushed outside to see an unconscious Madelie being carried into the center of the camp by Kyra and her brother Kiran. I hurried towards the trio and knelt by Madelie's side as she was placed gently on the ground.

"What happened?" I asked, looking up at Kyra and Kiran.

"Spies from the Capitol," Kyra said bitterly. "One of them shot her."

Nesbin raced over to Madelie's side and quickly assessed the situation. Madelie's shirt had been burned through and her bare chest was badly damaged. Whatever weapon the Time lords had shot her with, it was going to kill her, that much I could tell. Madelie's injury was bad enough that some of her muscles were revealed beneath her burnt and damaged skin.

"The others?" Nesbin asked.

"Anouk and Ophelie stayed back to take care of the spies," Kiran explained. "We brought Madelie as soon as it was safe to, but it won't be long until she regenerates."

Nesbin's face grew serious and worried as she looked back at Madelie. She was silent for a minute or two before she suddenly asked, "Where's Lenaya?"

I froze at the mention of the other Gallifreyan's name. Lenaya, Madelie's beloved wife, had left for the lake before sunrise with Patli to get more water and yaddlefish for the tribe. I quickly explained this to Nesbin before leaping to my feet and offering to find Lenaya for her. Nesbin thought for only a second before shaking her head.

"No, I want you to remain here with the others in case more spies should come near the camp. Find Cairbre and tell him to find Lenaya, then come back here immediately. Madelie needs looking after." Nesbin turned to Kyra and Kiran then. "Go back and find Anouk and Ophelie."

Once we had been given our instructions, I ran as fast as I could out of the camp. Cairbre was one of the members of the tribe who was not especially gifted at hunting or fighting and had been given the job of finding what edible vegetation he could find. Luckily enough, I was able to find him only a few minutes run outside the camp. After telling him that it was an emergency and that Lenaya was needed back at camp, Cairbre took off running for the lake immediately.

When I returned to the camp, Madelie had been moved to the tent she shared with Lenaya. Nesbin was waiting just outside Madelie's tent and once she saw me, she left to act as guard at the entrance to the camp. Madelie was still unconscious but was groaning in pain very softly. Her wound was bad enough that I couldn't even stand to look at it. Anger flared up in my chest as I saw the damage that had been done to my friend and I wished then that I had the ability to heal her.

Barely ten minutes later, Lenaya came bursting into the tent with a cry. She immediately rushed to Madelie's side and took her wife's head in her hands, cradling it against her stomach. Tears were already starting to streak across her pale cheeks as she leaned over Madelie's body.

"What... What happened?" she asked me.

"Kyra and Kiran said that she was attacked by spies."

"Spies?"

I nodded. "From the Capitol." I sighed as we both glanced down at Madelie's unconscious body. "Lenaya, I'm so sorry."

Lenaya shook her head as she ran her hand along the side of Madelie's face. "How could they do this to her? She's... not going to make it."

"But she'll regenerate, won't she?"

Lenaya looked back at me, her green-gray eyes red and brimming with tears. "Yes," she began softly, "but anything could happen." She turned her gaze back to her wife and took a shuddering breath. "She might not even love me anymore."

Madelie moaned again in her unconscious state and Lenaya, still softly crying, leaned down to press a kiss to her wife's forehead. Madelie's eyes fluttered open for a moment then and locked onto Lenaya, making the redhead and I gasp in shock.

"Lenaya," she whispered. "I-I'm sorry."

Gold tendrils of light began to whirl around Madelie's body then as she fell unconscious again. Lenaya gently, yet quickly, laid Madelie's head on the ground again and leaned back as golden regeneration energy overwhelmed Madelie's entire body. I narrowed my eyes and leaned closer as the wound on Madelie's chest healed completely. It was difficult to see through the golden glow, but I was able to see Madelie's face morph into the face of a stranger. Then the regeneration energy became too bright to look at directly and Lenaya and I had to turn away to shield our eyes.

A sharp inhalation told us that the regeneration was over and I quickly turned back to Madelie to see what had happened to her. Madelie had changed so much that if I hadn't seen the regeneration with my own eyes, I never would have thought it was the same person. Lenaya was frozen in shock as she stared at her wife's new body.

"Lenaya?" Madelie asked, the Gallifreyan's voice now much deeper and with an American accent.

Lenaya, her cheeks still somewhat damp, nodded but I could see fear and worry shining brightly in her eyes. "Madelie?"

"Lenaya, I- Oh." Madelie recoiled in surprise when he noticed how different his voice sounded. "Oh. That's... unexpected. I'm a... man?"

Madelie had regenerated into a dark skinned man with close cut hair, a firm jawline, and a muscular build. Sitting up almost immediately, Madelie looked down at his new body in surprise and almost wonder. He looked over his hands and arms, then his chest, and finally his legs. Moving his hands to his head, he slowly mapped out the new shape of his face. Then he gasped and clutched at his chest, obviously searching for the wound he had suffered before his regeneration.

"I'm a man," he repeated under his breath. "I-I..." Glancing up at Lenaya again, I could see that Madelie was just as worried as his wife was. "Lenaya, I don't... I wasn't expecting this."

Finally realizing that I was intruding on a very private moment between the two, I quickly got to my feet and hurried outside. Kyra and Kiran had returned with Anouk and Ophelie, as well as Cairbre, and they had gathered just outside Nesbin's tent. The other members of the tribe were also gathered there as Ophelie and Anouk explained what had happened. However once Nesbin spotted me, she gestured for me to join the group.

"How is Madelie?" she asked worriedly.

The others all turned to look at me and I took a breath before replying, "She- erm, he just regenerated." Everyone all gasped in shock, but didn't say anything despite the surprise. "He's talking with Lenaya now."

After a few silent moments, Nesbin nodded. "Very well. Let them have however long they need together. The spies have been dealt with and I doubt we'll be receiving anymore trouble from them. At least not for a while."

Ophelie and Anouk quickly explained to me what had happened after Madelie was brought back to camp. Apparently four spies from the Capitol, dressed very conspicuously in Time Lord robes, had been trying to find the camp and when Madelie made a show of threatening them in the hopes of scaring them off, one of the spies shot her with his gun. Anouk and Ophelie fought against the four spies easily and took care of them all, but not before gaining as much information about their intentions as possible.

"I think they may have been curious as to what we were doing out here in the Wastelands, but they were scared enough to bring weapons," Ohpelie added. "But we don't need to worry anymore. Not for tonight, at least."

I looked back at Lenaya and Madelie's shared tent and sighed heavily. "I just hope everything turns out okay," I mumbled.

* * *

Over the next month, Lenaya and Madelie had to relearn everything they once knew about themselves and their relationship. The strain that Madelie's regeneration had put on their marriage was obvious, but it broke my heart to see them struggle so much. Madelie was still the same person, but some of his minor personality quirks had changed. Lenaya still loved Madelie very much and the change in Madelie's appearance only surprised her, but Madelie was learning how to love Lenaya all over again.

I became a confidant to the two Gallifreyans and since I had some experience dealing with a significant other's change due to regeneration, I offered what comfort and advice I could. The two were very grateful to me for my help and over time they were able to begin moving past whatever differences they had recently discovered.

No more Time Lords were sent to spy on us from the Capitol, which was a relief to everyone. Nesbin still had twice as many guards watching the camp day and night, but no one else was attacked or hurt and we were able to go back to the peaceful lives we had established.

Madelie's regeneration and the way it had affected his relationship with Lenaya made me start to worry. I wasn't sure when I would see the Doctor again, but I wondered if something like that might ever happen to us. What if he were to regenerate into a woman? Would he still love me? Would I still love him? I had never thought of being with a woman before, but would it even matter? The Doctor would always be the Doctor, whether his face was older or younger or he was a man or woman. So why should a different gender matter to me or stop me from loving him?

But the same question still rolled around in my head, even after I had stopped wondering about the Doctor turning female. Lenaya had said that it was possible for Madelie not to love her after regeneration. Did that mean that one day the Doctor would stop loving me?

 **A/N: Please don't forget to review!**


	9. Themba and Theta Reunited

**A/N: Many thanks to my girlfriend for letting me scream ideas at her and for giving me ideas as well.**

I was alone by the lake when it happened. There was no warning, no thought in my mind that it would happen then and there. I hadn't said goodbye to my friends or even explained to anyone that something like this could happen.

I'd had trouble sleeping that night, so I told Madelie that I was going to stay by the lake until sunrise before leaving the camp. I watched the sunrise and held my phone in my hands, wishing that I could share the beautiful moment with Jack or even Missy. It wasn't long after the sun began to peak over the horizon that I heard a voice.

"Diana?"

The voice whispering my name was distant and muffled, like the person speaking was far away. I quickly stood up and held my knife in front of my torso for protection as I whirled around in confusion. Suddenly and without any warning whatsoever, my surroundings began to fade and change. It had been so long since I had last time jumped that I almost didn't realize what was happening at first.

"Diana, is that you?"

As I turned around to face the source of the voice, the landscape of Gallifrey melted away and turned into the inside of a Earth house. The house was unfamiliar to me, but the person who had been calling my name was not. I stared at the Doctor's startled and worried face and recoiled almost immediately from his presence when it triggered memories of Theta's murderous rage.

"Diana, what's wrong?"

The Doctor, wearing his brown pinstripe suit and converse, took a step towards me with concern shining in his eyes. I inhaled sharply and jumped back a few steps with my knife held in front of me. The image of Theta murdering the young boy in the river was still flashing across my vision and it was impossible to look at him.

"Don't," I breathed.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Don't," I repeated firmly. "Just stay away from me."

"What? Why?" the Doctor asked, his voice laced with confusion.

I closed my eyes and turned my back on the Time Lord, trying to shut out the images that once plagued my nightmares. All I could see was the way Theta charged towards the boy, a rock clutched in his small hand, the rage burning in his eyes. He was so young and already his hands were coated in blood. the knife in my hand slipped through my fingers and clattered on the wooden floor by my feet. I grimaced and shook my head firmly as I tried to push the memories away.

"I can't," I whispered.

"Can't, what?"

Very slowly, I opened my eyes and looked back at the Doctor. His eyes were wide and worried as they gazed at me. I started to turn towards him again but when he stretched out his arm to me, I flinched and recoiled with a stifled gasp. The Doctor's eyes immediately welled with tears and he very slowly pulled his arm back.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I-I didn't mean to scare you."

Before I could even think of a response, a door just behind the Doctor swung open and Martha stepped inside the house. "I'm home!" she announced as she focused on shutting and locking the door. "Work was hell, but I got my paycheck so-." Martha stopped short when she turned and spotted me across the hall. "Diana. You're here."

Martha looked between the Doctor and I for a few moments before she spoke again. "Alright, what happened?" she asked.

"Nothing," I said quickly.

"Did he do something?"

"What? No!" the Doctor insisted.

Martha looked back at me with a raised eyebrow. "Did he?" she asked again.

I shook my head. "No. No, it's me."

Sighing heavily and shaking her head, Martha marched across the hall. She grabbed my hand and began to pull me towards the front door. "We're going out, you and me," she said.

The Doctor didn't say anything, but I could feel his eyes on me as Martha practically dragged me out of the house. The moment the door shut behind me Martha turned to face me. Her eyes were wide and serious as she looked up at me, her hands resting firmly on her hips.

"What happened? And don't tell me 'nothing', because I'm not stupid and I know he did something."

"It wasn't his fault," I whispered as tears began to well in my eyes. I swallowed and glanced away for a moment as the memory replayed itself in my mind. "He was just scared a-and angry and his friend was in trouble-."

I stopped myself before I revealed too much, but the tears had already started to snake down my cheeks. Martha immediately reached for me and pulled me into a hug. I buried my head in her shoulder as her arms wrapped around my waist.

"Hey, it's okay," she whispered. "It's okay."

"I-I can't even look at him," I sobbed. "I just see what he did and I can't make it go away."

Martha pulled back, her arms moving to lightly grasp my biceps. "What can I do? How can I help?"

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. "I-I don't know," I admitted. "I mean, I don't blame him for what happened. He didn't have a choice. But that doesn't stop me from thinking about it and being… almost scared of him."

"Then maybe you should talk to him about it."

I immediately shook my head in protest. "No. He doesn't know that I know. I don't know what it would do to him if he found out that I knew."

"But Diana, you can't just keep this bottled up. He deserves to know. Whatever you saw, whatever he did, he should know. Lying about it is only going to make it worse."

"I know that. I do, I just…" I sighed through my tears and closed my eyes for a moment in an attempt to calm myself. "So much has happened and it's been so long since I've seen him. I hate that this is my reaction when I see him for the first time in months-"

"Hang on, _months?_ " Martha repeated incredulously. "How long has it been since you've seen him?"

"Um… six months, maybe? I'm not really sure. Everything kind of blurred together after the first month, to be honest."

Martha's jaw dropped open. "Where were you?" she asked.

"Gallifrey."

"But I thought Gallifrey was gone."

"It is. It's supposed to be. But somehow I got past the time locks and I got stuck there. I couldn't leave until the vortex decided to take me. I called the Doctor and asked him for help, but he couldn't come get me either. I had to wait."

Martha suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me towards the house. "That's it," she muttered as she pushed me forward.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I stumbled forward. "Martha, stop! I can't!"

Martha kept a tight on hold on my shoulder as she opened the door and shoved me inside. "You two, talk, now," she ordered before shutting the door behind me.

I whirled around and grabbed the door handle, but a hand suddenly stretched out and locked around mine. I jumped in surprise and yanked my hand away almost immediately, trying not to think about the way young Theta Sigma's hand clutched at the rock, the splatter of blood across his knuckles as he bashed that boy's head in. A sob worked its way out of my mouth as I clutched my hand against my chest.

"I'm sorry. Diana, please, I'm sorry."

Shaking my head in silence, I turned my back on the Doctor with my hand still cradled against my chest. I couldn't look him in the eyes, I couldn't let him touch me. It would only make me relive that terrible moment a hundred more times.

"Tell me what I did. Please, just _tell_ me," the Doctor begged. "I don't care about timelines or what I do or don't already know. Just tell me. Tell me what I did to… to make you so scared of me. Tell me how to fix it."

When I didn't speak, the Doctor let out a heavy sigh. "Can you at least tell me where you were? Anything, Diana, please. Anything that can help me understand why-"

"Gallifrey," I whispered.

"What?"

I wiped away my tears with the back of my hand. "I was on Gallifrey."

"Did something happen to you? Were you hurt? Did someone hurt you?" the Doctor demanded, his voice tight and laced with worry.

"No. Nobody hurt me. I just… I saw something."

"What did you see?" he asked slowly.

The tears had returned and were already threatening to spill down my cheeks. How could I tell him that I watched him murder a child? That I was hiding in the trees when he bashed the boy's head in for the sake of his friend, for the Master? That memory was something he most likely would have hidden away and tried to forget about. I didn't want to hurt him by telling him what I'd witnessed.

"Diana, please, just talk to me. Help me understand."

"I can't," I whispered with another shake of my head. "I don't want to hurt you. And I don't want to remember."

The Doctor's hand rested lightly on my shoulder and I flinched in surprise. Very slowly and very gently, he turned me around to face him again.

"What did I do?"

My vision grew cloudy as tears pooled in my eyes. "I saw you," I said softly, my eyes locked on his. A sob burst past my lips as I tried to explain. "By the river. K'anpo told me that you couldn't see me, that I couldn't disrupt your timeline. So I hid in the trees when I heard you and Koschei coming. And then that boy came and he pushed Koschei into the river. And you were so scared and Koschei was drowning and I just ran."

The Doctor's hand dropped from my shoulder as his eyes stared, empty and horrified, at me. "You saw," he breathed.

"I didn't mean to. I was just trying to leave the mountain, I didn't mean to see anything."

"Oh Rassilon," he exhaled.

"Please, I'm sorry. I didn't want to tell you."

The Doctor stumbled back a few paces in a daze. He nervously ran a hand through his wild mess of hair as he processed what I had just told him. I instantly regretted saying anything because I knew he was remembering every detail about that event, and hating himself even more for what he'd done.

"I know you didn't mean to," I blurted. "What you did, it's okay. You were scared and your friend was drowning and you were just trying to save him."

Breathing heavily, the Doctor's gaze finally met mine and he stared at me like a deer caught in the headlights. "You're defending me." It was half a question and half a statement, spoken incredulously and dubiously.

"Yes."

"Why? I-I-I killed someone-"

"You were a child," I interjected.

"But you- I mean, you're scared of me. You can't even look me in the eye properly."

"Because if I do, then I remember. I don't want to remember. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to- to hate you."

"Doesn't it? You saw me kill someone. I murdered a child, Diana! And yet you're just standing there and saying that it's okay!"

"Because I love you!" I shouted. "And yes I'm scared of you because when you reach out to me, all I see is your hand bringing a rock down on that boy's head! But at the same time, I know why you did it and I know that it wasn't your fault! Sometimes we're thrown into terrible circumstances and we have to make a terrible choice. You did what you had to do and that's okay. I'm not going to stop loving you just because you made a mistake.

"I had six months to think about what happened. I had six months to come to terms with what you did. And of course murdering a child is scary and terrifying, but I loved you before I saw it happen and I love you now. I just need some more time now that I can actually see you and be with you again."

The Doctor exhaled heavily and lowered his head so his chin pressed against his chest. "So do I," he said. He avoided my gaze altogether as he stepped past me and grabbed his coat off the rack behind me. "I'm sorry."

He pulled his coat on and then opened the door with a grunt. I watched him in confusion as he walked through the doorway without a single glance back at me.

"Wait! Where are you going?" I called after him.

"I need to be alone," he said simply.

"When are you coming back?"

He stopped mid stride a few yards past the door, his hands already shoved into his coat pockets. "I don't know."

I stayed frozen in the open doorway long after the Doctor had left. I had been waiting anxiously for the day I would get to see my boyfriend again and the day had finally come, only for him to leave me. I knew that telling him what I saw would upset him, but I hadn't thought that he would just leave me all alone in a strange house without any notice of when he would return. I didn't even know where Martha had gone so that left me feeling friendless and alone.

At some point, I trudged into what I assumed was the living room and sat down on the sofa. It had been six months since I had sat on something other than a pile of ragged fur blankets or dirt, so the sofa felt like a cloud handcrafted by a god. I lay down on my back with my head propped up by a pillow and stared at the ceiling in silence.

 _I shouldn't have told him. I shouldn't have said anything. If I had just kept my mouth shut then he wouldn't have left._ I sniffled and tried to hold back the tears welling in my eyes. _But I couldn't have just ignored it either. He killed someone. Yes he was a child and it was a spur of the moment decision that ended badly and he did it to save his best friend's life, but it was still murder._

A thought occurred to me then, however, that I had somehow never considered before. _But I've always known he was a killer. Even when he was traveling in the TARDIS, no matter how hard he tried, someone always died and sometimes it was because of him. That never really bothered me. I mean, sometimes it did, but I always thought of it as something that was supposed to happen, that had to happen. The only thing that makes this different is the fact that I always thought of little Theta Sigma as an innocent little boy with dreams of seeing the stars, not the hardened Time Lord he would grow up to become. So what kind of person does that make me?_

Apparently I fell asleep at some point after I lay down on the sofa because I was woke up a few hours later by Martha. Sometime while I was asleep, I had grabbed my pillow from beneath my head and wrapped my arms around it so I was hugging it. Martha sat down on the very edge of the sofa and rested a hand on my forearm.

"Hey," she said softly. "You okay?"

I moaned and let out a long yawn. "I guess."

"I just got back. I thought I'd go out and get some more food since we've got another person living here now." Martha flashed me a smile and stood up so that I would be able to it up comfortably. "By the way, do you know where the Doctor is? I was gonna ask him about something, but I can't find him."

I ran a hand through my hair and shook my head, still clutching the pillow in one arm as I leaned against the back of the sofa. "He left. I told him everything and the he just left. He said he needed some time alone."

"You mean he just left you here? All by yourself?" When I nodded, Martha's eyes widened and I could see a little bit of anger burning there as well. "Alright, that's enough. He's getting a good talking to when he comes back. But until then, you and me are going to have a girl's night. Forget about the Doctor and just have some fun instead. Six month on Gallifrey doing God know what, you deserve some ice cream and comfort food."

Despite the terrible mood I was in, I couldn't help but smile at Martha's insistence that we have a girl's night. "Ice cream does sound amazing," I admitted. "I've been eating yaddlefish and tafelshrews and trunpikes the last six months. Some normal human food would be nice."

 **A/N: Please please please leave a review!**


	10. Someone To Understand

**A/N: Oh my god, 'The Magician's Apprentice' was amazing! I was so excited that I forced myself to finish this chapter for everyone, even if it's a day late. Enjoy!**

When I woke up the next morning, I instantly regretted binging on ice cream all night long. My stomach was used to wild game, fruit, and seafood, not junk food, so I didn't feel very good for the majority of the morning. Martha had already left for work by the time I woke up, but she left me a note with her work phone number and address and when she would be home.

I spent the second half of the morning in bed and either fiddling with my phone or reading through some of the books in the bedroom. My appetite was mostly non-existent, so I didn't bother to get anything other than some water and a piece of toast. But despite the interesting books I had found, my thoughts kept drifting back to everything that had been said between the Doctor and I.

I knew I was right to tell him what I had seen and I was grateful to Martha for prompting me to do so, yet I still wondered if maybe I could have done something different. It hurt me deeply that the Doctor had just left me. I felt abandoned and so alone, even with Martha's company the night before. Did this mean that we were over? How long would he be gone? Would he even want to return to me?

It occurred to me then that that was probably how the Doctor always felt about me. My life was so complicated and confusing because of my traveling capabilities, and I could only imagine the hurt that I left behind. But I couldn't control when or how I left; the Doctor could. He chose to leave me when all I ever wanted was to stay with him.

Martha returned home at half past noon and, after seeing me sitting motionless in bed, urged me to eat some lunch. After we ate together she explained that she had bought me a new pair of clothes since my old clothes from my stay on Gallifrey were dirty and ragged. After I tried the new outfit on, Martha decided to bring me outside. The house had a small but lovely backyard with a beautiful flower garden and an impressive oak tree. Sitting in the shade of the oak and noting the fresh air improved my mood considerably, and talking with Martha helped even more.

She talked about work and how frustrating many of the customers at the shop were. Martha admitted that she absolutely preferred medical school to working the shop, but that she was enjoying a break from school. I was alright with not speaking very much and just listening to my friend instead.

"Well," Martha sighed after a long rant about her boss, "that's enough about me. I've been talking your ear off for a good hour."

"It's fine," I said with a smile. "I don't mind."

"I know, but you can talk if you want to. About anything."

I absently tugged on the grass as I considered what my response would be. Martha obviously wanted to make sure I was alright, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk about anything with her. How could she possibly understand about the Doctor, about Gallifrey?

"I'm sorry if I'm being pushy about it," she added quickly. "I just want to make sure you're okay. You're my friend and I want to help if I can."

Flashing Martha a reassuring smile, I said, "I know. I just… I have a lot of conflicting feeling right now. And anyone I talk to wouldn't understand-"

"Not even me?"

"You didn't spend six months stranded on Gallifrey pretending to be a Time Lord. And your boyfriend didn't abandon you the moment you saw him again." I closed my eyes and sighed, shaking my head in frustration. "I'm sorry. I'm not angry at you, I'm angry at him."

"I know." Martha suddenly rested a hand on my knee, making me open my eyes. "You have every right to be. Whatever it is you saw, you needed his support, not for him to run off and leave you. None of this is your fault."

I sighed again and lowered my gaze so I was staring emotionlessly at the grass. "Yeah," I mumbled, too focused on my frustration to say much of anything else.

"You know," Martha began after a few moments of silence, "I think I know someone you could talk to."

"Martha, I didn't mean that I didn't want to talk to you-"

"No, I know. I just mean that I know someone who might understand."

That confused me. Who could she possible know that would understand what I was going through?

* * *

"Martha, can't you just tell me where we're going?"

Martha shook her head and smiled a little. "No," she said as she looked out the window of the cab. "I don't want to ruin the surprise. Besides, I promised not to say anything."

I sighed in exasperation and leaned my head against the window, watching the city fly past us. I was still completely stumped on who Martha had contacted that she thought would understand my situation. She wasn't supposed to know Jack yet, but maybe something had happened and she knew about Torchwood already? Or perhaps she had met or heard of UNIT and contacted the Brigadier?

I was drawn out of my thoughts when the cab rolled to a halt. Peering through the window, I saw that we had stopped in front of a small library. Martha paid the cab driver and then pulled me outside behind her. The cab drove off immediately while Martha pulled the door of the library open and stepped inside. I looked at the library in confusion for a moment before following after my friend, albeit a little cautious and curious.

The inside of the library was completely normal and ordinary. I had almost expected it to be full of alien tech or something since Martha was being so secretive about it. An older woman sat behind the counter at the front of the library with a small stack of papers in front of her. The rest of the library, although small, was full of bookcases and a few chairs scattered around them. I only saw one other person in the library, a young woman sitting in the nearest chair with her nose buried in a copy of "The Silmarillion".

But the young woman suddenly closed her book and looked up to meet my gaze. It took me a moment to realize who she was because the last time I had seen her she looked much younger, but when I finally recognized her I felt guilt rip through my chest. My eyes welled with tears immediately as she stood up and slowly placed the book on the seat of her chair, her eyes never leaving mine.

"Sarah," I breathed through my tears.

"Mother," she replied curtly.

Rushing forward, I threw my arms around my daughter and pulled her into a tight embrace. She was rigid in my arms and didn't move to return the hug, but she didn't fight me either. I closed my eyes and buried my head in Sarah's shoulder as I tried to keep my tears from falling.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered. "Sarah, I am so so sorry." I pulled back then and cupped Sarah's face in my hands as I gazed into her beautiful gray eyes. "What happened? After we-… Were you okay? Did you get hurt? Please tell me you weren't hurt."

Sarah pursed her lips slightly as she pulled her head back. I immediately withdrew my hands when I realized that she didn't want me touching her. The way my daughter looked at me felt like a knife to my heart; her expression was neutral as she stared at me in silence and her eyes were both cold and cautious.

Ignoring my frantic questions, Sarah looked past and caught Martha's gaze. "Where's the Doctor?" she asked, her voice void of any emotion and one of her eyebrows raised.

"He's gone," Martha answered.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"He left," I said.

Sarah furrowed her brows together in confusion. "What, he just left you?"

I nodded. "Yes." Anger and hurt bubbled up inside my chest and I clenched my jaw as I muttered, "He abandoned me."

Sarah scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh, so he's back to doing that again, is he?" she said bitterly.

Behind me, Martha suddenly cleared her throat. "Um, I think I'm gonna have a look around," she said a little awkwardly.

I didn't even bother to say anything to Martha as I heard her walk away. I gazed at my daughter instead as I tried to think of something I could say to her, a way for me to apologize for accidentally leaving her behind when the Doctor kidnapped Ian and Barbara. But when I looked into Sarah's eyes again I saw the bitterness and the hurt and the anger, all the things that she wasn't saying.

"Sarah, I-"

"So what happened?" she asked. "Why did the Doctor leave you?"

 _She doesn't want me to say anything about what happened,_ I realized. _She probably doesn't want to hear whatever pathetic excuse I might come up with._

I nervously brushed some hair out of my face as Sarah settled down in her chair again. She crossed one leg over the other and stared at me expectantly. "I was on Gallifrey," I began slowly. "I ended up there somehow and I got stuck there for six months."

"I thought Gallifrey was time locked."

"It is. But I got stuck there somehow and I had to pretend to be a Time Lord. And, uh, long story short, I ended up here and the Doctor left."

Sarah raised her eyebrow again, staring incredulously at me. "But why did he leave? He wouldn't just leave you because you spent some time on Gallifrey. There had to be a reason."

"Sarah, it's not my place to tell you what happened."

"So?"

I sighed and ran a hand over my face. "I saw something. Before I was living in the Wastelands as a hunter, I saw something that I wasn't supposed to see. Something that the Doctor's ashamed of. And when I told him what I saw, he just left without any explanation or telling me when he'd be back or even _if_ he'd come back. I don't know where he went or where he is now. I just know that when I needed him most, he abandoned me."

"Yeah, he does that a lot," Sarah replied with a cynical smile.

I had to look away to reign in my tears at Sarah's bitter response. "Sarah, we never meant to leave you. It was an accident."

"But you still left me," she snapped. "You still forgot about me. You and the Doctor just abandoned me for a _second_ time."

"I never forgot about you. Not ever, not for one single moment. You are my daughter and I _love_ you. I could never forget you."

"But you did!" she shouted, swiftly moving so that she was standing. "I was a child and you left me behind. I was lost and alone and scared and I didn't have my parents because they abandoned me! The only person to ever look after me was Alistair. He was the only proper father I ever had and even now, I don't have him because I'm stuck here in this time without any way back."

"Sarah, I'm _sorry_ ," I said through my tears. "I never meant to hurt you. I'm your mother, I'm supposed to look after you, not ruin your life. I-I never meant for any of this to happen. If I had known, I would have done something, I would've changed what happened somehow because you deserve so much more than this. But right now I can't do anything. I'm stuck here for God knows how long with no TARDIS, no way to leave, no Doctor to support me when I need him."

Sarah scoffed and shook her head in frustration. "Yeah but the thing is, _Mum_ , that the Doctor always comes back for you. He never comes back for us. Not for his granddaughter, not for his own children or even his friends, just for you. So don't act like you're all alone and that you have nobody because you have absolutely no idea what that's like."

Before I could say another word, Sarah stormed past me and rushed out of the library. "Sarah, wait!" I called as I ran after her. "Sarah!"

She had already sprinted across the street and dodged around a shop corner. I was about to run across the street after her, but Martha suddenly appeared by my side and pulled me back by the arm.

"Careful!" she exclaimed as a car whizzed by.

"Sarah!" I shouted, pulling my arm out of Martha's grasp.

"Diana, wait. Let her go."

"But-"

"She probably needs some time to cool down. Just… let her be for now."

I let out a shuddering breath and felt my entire body tremble with the effort of holding back my tears. "She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you," Martha assured me, gently placing a hand on my arm. "She's just upset."

"What kind of mother am I if I can't even look after my own children properly? What other things have I done to hurt her that she hasn't told me about? What will I do to her in the future?" I spared Martha a tearful glance and shook my head. "She said Alistair was the only father she ever had. Was the Doctor ever even there for her? Was I? A-Am I just a terrible mother?"

I could barely control myself as I dissolved into tears. I fell forward into Martha's arms and sobbed into her shoulder as she tried her best to comfort me. Without the Doctor there to reassure me, I wasn't sure what to do. He knew better than Martha, myself, or even Sarah what had happened to our child and he would know exactly what to say to me. But he had left me and all I could do was guess and worry and pray that Sarah wouldn't hate me forever.

Martha called a cab soon after and we headed home immediately. I could tell that she felt guilty the meeting with Sarah had gone so poorly, but I promised her that I wasn't angry with her for how things turned out. I knew it was my fault that Sarah was angry and hurt. It was my fault that she was left behind because Susan told me that very day that Sarah was staying behind at school. But I had forgotten her because I was so caught up in the sudden appearances of Barbara and Ian. What kind of mother was I to let myself forget about Sarah?

When we returned home, I went straight to my room and collapsed on my bed with a soft cry. My life felt like it was falling apart around me too quickly for me to stop or fix anything. The more I thought about everything Sarah had said, the worse I felt and the more I worried about her and our relationship. I knew that her future self was much more understanding towards me, but what if it was just a pretense or short lived? I doubted I could handle my own daughter hating me.

 _Why did we decide to have children?_ I wondered as I stared through my tears at the ceiling of my room. _All we do is bring them into this universe so they can get hurt. Susan died because of us, because of me. I could have stopped it from happening if I had just tried harder. Now Sarah's been abandoned by her parents twice and she hates me. God only knows what else we end up putting her through. What about Hope? And Alistair? If he really is my son, then I can only guess what kind of pain he's gone through as well._

I rolled onto my side and curled into a ball, staring at the wall as I continued crying softly. _Theta, what have we done to our children?_

* * *

The next three days were mostly uneventful for Martha and myself. Martha was usually at work most of the day since she had to support the Doctor and I. However, my argument with Sarah had only made me feel worse and I retreated even more into myself, very rarely speaking and hardly ever leaving the house. When I did go outside, I stayed in the backyard and stared at the flowers or watch the clouds as they floated across the sky. All I could think about was the Doctor and Sarah and how I had hurt them and driven them away. I worried over my children and wondered how each one had grown up, if I had raised any of them properly or not. The more I thought about my children and what Sarah had said, the more I wished I could rewrite time to spare her.

The fourth day I started to feel a little more like myself, even if I was still dwelling on the events of the last few days. Martha was thrilled to come home and find me out of bed with something other than a frown on my face. Hoping to keep me in my newfound good mood, Martha decided to take me out to dinner. The new surroundings were a nice change of atmosphere for me and I enjoyed eating something that someone else had prepared for me.

"So did you get any reading done yet?" Martha asked as we walked, arm in arm, in the setting sunlight back home. "I know you probably haven't been in the mood recently, but I thought maybe some reading would do you good."

"I think I read the first morning I arrived here. But nothing else yet. I kind of wish there were more American shows on the TV," I added as an afterthought. "But my favorite TV show kind of doesn't exist in this universe, so…"

Martha glanced at me from the corner of her eyes. "What's your favorite TV show?"

"Doctor Who," I answered with a half smile.

"Wait. You mean-?"

I nodded and laughed a little at Martha's shocked expression. "I'm living in my favorite TV show. So I guess watching it would be a little redundant."

"So you know what's going to happen, then, with the angels and the TARDIS?"

"Mostly," I answered with a shrug. "I don't know much about yours and… the Doctor's perspective because what I saw in my universe only showed me what happened to Sally. But I know how everything's supposed to end."

"And we make it out of here, right?"

"Martha, I promise you're not stuck in the past for the rest of your life. I know it for a fact," I sighed as I recalled what was supposed to happen once she and the Doctor regained the TARDIS: the end of the universe with Jack and the fob watched Master. Pulling out of my thoughts almost immediately, I saw that we were walking along the sidewalk that led to the house. "Oh, good. I've been looking forward to sitting down again as soon as we left the restaurant."

Laughing softly, Martha unhooked her arm from around mine and pulled the house keys from her coat pocket. "Six months without a sofa really makes you appreciate it, huh?"

I nodded. "You have _no_ idea."

Martha pushed the front door open, stuffing the keys back into her pocket, before gesturing for me to go inside first. Smiling briefly at her, I hurried inside with the intention of sitting down on the sofa with a book or even going back to my room and collapsing on my bed. I kicked my shoes off in the entry and padded into the living room in my socks, only to stop short at what I saw.

The Doctor jumped up from his seat on the sofa, his eyes wide and his face tight with worry. "Diana," he breathed, "you're back."

 **A/N: Please don't forget to review (and head to pinterest to see Sarah all grown up)!**


	11. A Painful Exchange

I stared at the Doctor, frozen in shock, as he gazed worriedly back at me. Almost instantly, my shock began to morph into uncontrollable rage. How dare he stand there as if he never left and wonder what was wrong? The hurt and guilt from the last four days seemed nonexistent compared to the anger flooding through my veins. The Doctor took a step closer to me and before I even realized what I was doing, my right arm flew up and I slapped the Time Lord across the mouth.

The slap echoed throughout the room, along with the Doctor's startled cry. He instantly put a hand to his cheek and stared wide-eyed at me in surprise. Although I was still very angry with him, I was surprised by the fact that I had indeed slapped him.

"What was that?" Martha exclaimed from the entry. She walked briskly into the living room and stopped short just beside me when she saw the Doctor. "Where the hell have you been?"

The Doctor lightly rubbed his cheek and sighed. "Martha, if you wouldn't mind-"

"You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do," Martha said firmly.

"Martha, _please_ ," the Doctor said lowly, his voice hardened with frustration and irritation, "this is between Diana and I."

"I didn't say you had to explain yourself to me. She's your wife and she's the one you left." Turning to me, Martha put a hand on my shoulder and smiled comfortingly at me. "I"ll be upstairs in my room if you need me."

As Martha headed upstairs, the Doctor and I stared at each other in silence. The Doctor looked like he was about to speak a few different times, but he fell silent again when he saw the furious expression on my face. I was still trying to work out what to say to him. So many thoughts and feelings were burning in my mind that I felt like I was about to explode.

"Where were you?" I finally asked.

The Doctor looked down at the floor as he answered. "I needed to be alone," he said. "What you told me… It scared me, Diana, because I thought that was far behind me. I had no idea that you'd seen it-"

"Oh, so that makes it okay?" I interjected. "You were scared, so abandoning me was okay because of how you were feeling?"

"Diana, I didn't abandon you."

"Really? Because that's what it felt like. I needed you and you just left without explaining when or even _if_ you'd come back. What the hell was I supposed to think?"

"I never left," the Doctor answered, articulating each word very carefully. "You couldn't see me, but I was there. I stayed close by and watched over you to make sure that you were safe. I made sure you weren't in danger, but I kept my distance so I could think things over for both our sakes."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better or forgive you, or something?"

The Doctor pursed his lips and shook his head in frustration. "I never really left!" he exclaimed. "I was looking after you the entire time, Diana. I only needed to be on my own for a little while." Sighing again and running his hands through his messy hair, the Doctor reached out and grabbed my hand. "Diana, please, you have to understand that you were never supposed to see what happened that day. No one was ever supposed to know what I did, especially you."

"I _told_ you that I forgave you for what happened, that I understood why you did it, even if I was still scared of you. But instead of trying to help me or comfort me, you left!" I snapped, finally pulling my hand from the Doctor's grasp. "You left me even though you knew that I was scared and confused! I needed you and all you could do was think about yourself."

"I'm ashamed of what I did that day, Diana! Can't you understand that?"

"Of course I can, but that doesn't change the fact that when I needed you the most, you abandoned me just like you abandon everyone else! You left me scared and confused and alone, wondering if I would ever even _see_ you again! How many times have you done that - or will do that - to me, to our children? You just… You leave us behind if it's too inconvenient to stay and fix the mess you've made. No, you just fly off in your stupid box and sulk or, even better, you forget all about us. That's why our own daughter hates us! Because you gave her up, you abandoned her so that she could be raised by someone else. Or had you forgotten about her too?"

"I _never_ forgot her!" the Doctor shouted, his eyes shining with hurt and anger. "I could never forget our daughter. How can you even think that?"

"I don't know. Maybe because she won't even call you 'Dad'? Maybe because she hates us both so much that she can barely even stand the sight of me? Our daughter hates us because _you_ made the choice to give her up. And I know it was you, Doctor, because I would never give up my daughter. Never in a million years."

"I was protecting her! From the War, from the Daleks, from _me!_ "

"Well maybe she wasn't hurt by the War, but she sure as hell got hurt by you," I said bitterly. "So good job on the parenting, Doctor. Oh you really _aced_ that one! Once again you've managed to ruin the life of someone close to you. It's the only thing you're good, though, so I shouldn't really be surprised. I mean, look at what you did to my life."

"No," the Doctor snarled, his voice laced with anger. "No, you stop right there. You have no right-"

"I have _every_ right!"

"Everything I have ever done has been to protect you and our family! So don't stand there and accuse me of abandoning you when, for once, I was trying to take care of myself instead looking after you all the time."

His words hit me in the chest like a knife to my heart. I felt my anger cease for a moment as I realized what he saw saying, and felt tears start to well in my eyes. "Are you saying I'm a burden?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest as I tried to stare defiantly at the Time Lord.

The Doctor fell silent then as he looked seriously into my eyes. I was fighting against the urge to burst into tears right in front of him. The very thought that he saw me as someone he was forced to look after, like an annoyingly ignorant child, broke my heart. As I looked back at him, I saw that he was fighting with himself over what to say. And that could only mean one thing.

"Say it," I urged, my voice trembling enough that it would have been impossible to hide it. "Go on. You're thinking it, so why not just say it?"

"Diana," the Doctor began slowly.

"Say it!" I shouted as the tears finally began to streak down my cheeks. "I'm a burden. Always crying about something, always whining, always scared. I bet that really annoys you, doesn't it? How scared I get? Well don't worry, you can another fault to the list. I'm a terrible mother," I said with a bitter smile. "See? You're not the only one who can play this game."

The Doctor shook his head and reached out for me, but I immediately recoiled and took a few steps back. "Diana, please," he begged.

"Don't," I said quickly. "Just don't."

"Diana, you don't understand. That isn't what I meant-"

"That's exactly what you meant. And you're right. I am a burden. Always getting kidnapped or hurt or brain washed. Always forgetting something important. Always hurting somebody. Like how I hurt Sarah. And how I hurt you." I could see unshed tears in the Doctor's eyes as he gazed sadly at me. "But being sorry doesn't stop me from being angry about what you did. Or from being hurt by what you think."

"Diana, _listen to me_ ," the Doctor said firmly, quickly grabbing me by the wrists and tugging me close to him. I tried to pull away from him but he refused to let me go until he finished what he wanted to say. "Listen very carefully. You are not and never have been a terrible mother."

"But-"

" _Listen._ Diana, I've seen you with our children and seen how carefully you look after them and care for them. You love and care with a capacity so far beyond any other human or alien I have ever met. You have faced death and injury and the unknown to protect our children. You are the most remarkable mother in the entire universe. So you put that idea out of your head right now, do you understand?"

"A good mother never abandons her children," I countered as I continued crying softly. "And Sarah was abandoned. We failed, _I_ failed."

"No. What I did was my choice, not yours. It was me who made the decision, me who didn't tell you because I knew you'd stop me. None of this was ever your fault."

I shook my head and pulled out of the Doctor's grasp, turning my back on him to put some distance between us. "You just said I was a burden-"

"I didn't say it."

"But you thought it," I said as I looked over my shoulder at him. "I saw it in your eyes. So how am I supposed to accept anything else that you might have to say to me when that's what you really think of me?"

"But it's _not_ what I really think of you. Diana, it was wrong of me to even say what I did. I know that and I'm sorry, but I swear to you that I don't think of you as anything less than the woman I love and the mother of my children." The Doctor paused for a moment, before tearfully whispering, "Diana, I love you. What I said and did was wrong, I admit that, but I'm here now and I'm not leaving you again."

"You don't understand," I sobbed. "You can't just show up out of nowhere after leaving me, say you're sorry and you love me, and then expect everything to be okay again! I thought you left me for good! I thought I would never see you again because that's what I'm used to. People leave me and they never come back."

"I know. But I promise you, I will never leave you again."

"Don't make promise you can't keep," I said with a shake of my head. "Because you've left me before and I know you'll do it again. It's who you are, it's what you do and I can't-."

I cut myself off mid sentence when I felt a sob working its way up my throat. I spun around before the Doctor could see me completely fall apart and let out a choked back cry. My shoulders were trembling with the effort of trying to hold myself back, even though I wasn't able to do so at all. I tried to cover my mouth and stifle myself, but it was impossible to hold back anything then. Every emotion and thought and memory was rushing through my head so quickly that I was completely overwhelmed.

Suddenly, from somewhere near the entry, a young woman came rushing towards me and put her hands on my shoulders to keep me from doubling over. Through the haze of my tears, I could see a mass of dirty blonde hair and beautiful gray eyes standing in front of me.

"Mum?"

I blinked a few times to clear my vision and saw my daughter standing there with a worried expression on her face. "S-Sarah?" I stammered in confusion. "How-?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm back," she said with a small, forced smile.

"Sarah," the Doctor murmured behind me.

Sarah quickly turned her gaze to her father and sent him a stern, almost hateful glare. "Come on, Mum," she said as she put an arm around my shoulders. "You need some time alone."

"Sarah, wait," the Doctor said. "Let me finish-"

"Oh you're finished," Sarah snapped in response. "You've done enough, Doctor."

At that point, it was all too much for me to handle. I pulled away from Sarah and ran out of the room as fast as I could, still sobbing quietly. I couldn't be in there with the two of them any longer because all it did was made me feel worse.

 **A/N: Don't forget to review!**


	12. Tenderly The Night Will Come

I burst through my bedroom door and fell onto my bed, sobbing loudly into my pillow. I replayed every word in my mind as I grabbed desperately at the pillow in an attempt to ground myself, but the argument just continued to echo in my ears. So many thoughts and feelings were jumbled together in my head that it was difficult to know what I most upset about. Was it the Doctor's abandonment? Young Theta Sigma's murderous rage? Sarah's hatred of me and then her sudden return? It was probably every bad memory and feeling I had ever felt since coming to the Doctor's universe, but one specific thing stood out in my mind that I simply couldn't stop replaying.

 _Don't stand there and accuse me of abandoning you when, for once, I was trying to take care of myself instead of looking after you all the time._

All I could think was that the Doctor, the man I had come to love more than anything, hated me. And it made sense too. I was always weak and scared, more spineless than the most disgusting coward ever to cross the Doctor's path. I got kidnapped too often, cried too much, felt so strongly about everything that people took pity on me instead of truly liking me. How could the Doctor ever love a person like that?

I thought of the Doctor's companions and realized how unimportant and stupid I was compared to them. All of them were quick thinkers and highly intelligent without any knowledge of things to come, even companions that were from time periods without certain technology or education. They were all brave and resilient and clever, whereas I was constantly whiny and worried and afraid. I could fight with simple hand-to-hand maneuvers because of my training on Gallifrey, but what good would that do compared to the brain of a Time Lady or the clever wit of a journalist or the bravery and loyalty of a girl who never passed her A-levels?

My mind refused to accept any truth other than the truth I had created. Curling into a ball on the bed, I clung to my pillow as I continued crying over everything that had been said and done. I was close to crying myself to sleep as I began to grow more and more tired when my phone, which hadn't been working properly for nearly six months, began ringing. Both confused and startled, I sat up and looked around the room for a moment as I tried to remember where it was. During the confusion of leaving Gallifrey and seeing the Doctor again, I had managed to misplace my belongings that were still in the satchel K'anpo gave to me. I thought the satchel was still on Gallifrey, but apparently it wasn't because my phone was still ringing. Sniffling and wiping some of my tears away, I got out of bed and found my satchel sitting at the foot of my bed.

 _How did I miss it?_ I wondered as I dug through the satchel for my phone. _I must've been really out of it._

By the time I found my phone, the person trying to contact me had apparently ended the call. I swiped my thumb across the screen to unlock it when the phone began ringing again. With the press of a button, I answered the call and brought the phone up to my ear.

"H-Hello?" I asked softly, hoping my voice wouldn't betray me.

There was a very light pause before the caller spoke. "Diana? Are you alright?"

"Missy?" I said incredulously.

"What's wrong?"

I shook my head instinctively, clearing my throat to make myself sound more normal. "Nothing," I answered quickly. "I'm fine."

"That's a lie and we both know it. Now will you tell me what's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

"Diana Scott, it's absolutely impossible to lie to me. I know something's not right because your voice is trembling and you sound a bit sniffly, so tell me what's happened."

"Missy, please," I whispered as I felt my eyes begin to well with tears.

"Tell me. What. Happened," she said firmly. "I won't ask again."

"Missy, it's _fine!_ " I exclaimed as my voice cracked.

Missy hummed over the line as I broke into tears again. "Just like I thought. Be there in a mo."

I sniffled and tried to wipe away some of the tears on my cheek. "W-Wait, what?" I stammered.

"Just need to trace your space-time coordinates and…" A loud pop sounded behind me and I whirled around in surprise and confusion to find Missy standing behind me, a small device held up to her ear. "Ta."

I slowly lowered my phone as I stared at the woman in shock. She lowered the device, then walked over to me and pulled me up by the arm before I could say anything. She stuffed the device into a pocket in her skirt, then placed my hand on her left wrist where a vortex manipulator was strapped. Very quickly, she typed in a series of numbers with a proud and knowing smile.

"Missy, you have to go. If the Doctor finds you-"

"Now hold on tight," she whispered. "This might be a little bumpy."

"Wait, Missy-"

I was cut off by the sound of electricity crackling around us. In the blink of an eye, my bedroom disappeared completely and I stumbled forward as a wave of nausea swept over me. Missy squealed in excitement and whirled around in place while I doubled over and prayed that I wouldn't throw up.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad," she teased. " _Woo hoo, let's do it again!_ "

I glanced up at her with an incredulous expression. "Are you nuts?"

"Bananas, dear," Missy corrected with a grin. She smoothed a hand over her hair and then gestured to our new surroundings. "What do you think of the view?"

Still slightly doubled over, I looked away from the woman to see that we were standing on the shore of a beautiful lake. The surface of the lake was as smooth as glass and reflected the stunning images of the mountains that towered above us on the opposite side of the water. I slowly stood up so I could better see where Missy had taken me.

"Do you like it?" she whispered in my ear.

I jumped in surprise, not having heard her move to stand beside me. "Y-Yes," I stammered a little awkwardly. After a moment, however, I looked over my shoulder at the woman and flashed her a confused expression. "I don't understand. Why did you bring me here? And how do you have a vortex manipulator?"

"You were crying," Missy said, the teasing tone in her voice suddenly gone as she gazed very seriously at me. "I had to do something."

"So you took me… here?" I asked as I looked at the wide expanse of the lake again. "Why?"

"You know why."

The gentleness in her voice surprised me and I immediately turned to face Missy again. "No, I don't," I answered with a shake of my head.

"Because I care," she said simply. We stared at each other in silence for what felt like an eternity until Missy spoke again, her eyes still locked onto mine. "Why were you crying?"

"It doesn't matter," I mumbled as I turned away. I crossed my arms over my stomach and looked down at the ground, looking at the water-smoothed pebbles under my feet.

"Yes it does. Of course it matters."

"Why?"

"Because it's you. You've always mattered."

I furrowed my brows in concentration as I tried to understand why it meant so much to Missy. Were we incredibly close in the future? There were companions I had met that I was very protective of, like Sarah Jane or Susan Foreman or Jo. Perhaps that was how Missy felt about me?

"Was it him?" she asked, interrupting my train of thought.

"What?"

"The Doctor. Was he the one who made you cry?"

I closed my eyes against the memory of each word and thought, fighting to keep them from rushing back to the forefront of my mind. I didn't want to cry in front of Missy when she had gone through so much trouble to make me feel better, even if I didn't really understand why, and I didn't want to think about what the Doctor had said to me. Or what I had said to him.

"What happened, Diana?"

"Please," I whispered as my voice started to tremble again. "Just don't."

"What happened?" Missy repeated.

I took a deep, shuddering breath and let my head hang as I gave in to the urge to cry. "He left. I needed him and he left." I quickly wiped away the few tears that had fallen, refusing to move my head in case Missy saw them. "And when he came back, he- _we_ said things to each other that we shouldn't have said."

Missy gently rested a hand on my shoulder and turned me around to face her. I offered no resistance and let her cup my chin to bring my eyes up to hers. "Start from the beginning," she said softly.

For some reason I felt like I could tell Missy about the complications of my timeline and it felt like she understood completely. There was no pitying or patronizing look in her eyes, just understanding and sympathy. Explaining everything to Martha and even Sarah had helped, but Sarah ended up running away from me in anger and Martha just couldn't understand the implications of what I had seen. Missy somehow managed to have me tell her what I saw, although I was hesitant to tell her at first. But when I told her about Theta's incident by the river, she seemed to loose herself for a moment and a strange look flashed across her face that I couldn't interpret.

"Missy?" I murmured through my tears. "What is it?"

"Hm?" she asked with a shake of her head, drawing out of her thoughts. "I'm sorry, love."

"Are you okay?"

Missy smiled fondly at me. "Always worrying about everyone but yourself. You never change."

I scoffed. "Yeah, I think you missed the part where I cried about poor me for an entire day."

"Oh, right," she sighed sarcastically. "Because that's not a completely normal reaction to being _abandoned_. You had every right to cry."

"But what about the things I said to him?"

"You lost your temper. The Doctor never should have left you, no matter what he did or how he felt. Besides, I know you. You keep everything bottled up inside," Missy sighed as she gently placed a hand on my forearm, her fingers wrapping around my wrist. "You snapped. There's nothing wrong with that. After everything you've gone through, I'm surprised you didn't completely lose it."

My gaze dropped to where Missy's fingers were trailing along my forearm, then flew up to meet her eyes. "Why do you care so much?"

Missy smirked and merely said, "Now that would be telling, wouldn't it?"

I sighed and turned my head so I could look out at the lake. "Can we stay a little while?" I wondered. "I don't want to go back yet."

"If you like."

"You never told me where we are," I added after a moment or two.

"Canada. A few thousand years in the past. Thought you'd like it."

"I love it."

I pulled my hand away from Missy's and moved to sit down, not minding the fact that I was sitting on a bed of pebbles. With my legs crossed and my elbows resting on my knees, I gazed out over the lake in silence. Missy sat down beside me with a flourish of her skirts and stretched her legs out in front of her, then supported herself by placing her arms just slightly behind her. We stayed that way for a long time, not speaking, but enjoying each other's company and the silence. I didn't cry after that because I felt like I had cried enough to last me a lifetime and being away from the Doctor and the house, I was much more at ease than I had been ever since I left Gallifrey.

It was twilight when Missy suddenly spoke. "Say something nice," she whispered, her ice blue eyes focused on the horizon.

I looked curiously at her. "Why?"

"Please?"

I looked back out at the sunset shining over the lake and smiled. "Thank you," I said softly as I turned to look at her once more. "For everything."

* * *

 _Missy gathered Diana's sleeping form in her arms, jarring her slightly from her slumber so that she would stand up. It took some maneuvering, but she eventually managed to transport Diana back to her room in the Doctor's house. Missy guided the girl back to her bed and watched as she fell asleep almost immediately, her eyes still red and slightly puffy from her long hours of crying._

 _It had been too long since she'd seen Diana and the circumstances of their last meeting had not been pleasant. But Missy wasn't one to dwell on unhappy memories, at least not all the time. With a gentle sigh, she leaned forward and kissed Diana on the forehead before disappearing with a flash of electricity._

 **A/N: So... Thoughts?**

 **The name of the chapter comes from the original lyrics used in "Missy's Theme" on the series 8 soundtrack. There's a link to the lyrics on my author profile page. Anyway, please please please leave a review and tell me what you thought!**


	13. Research and Revelations

**A/N: So I forgot to mention in the previous chapter that Missy is placed in between "Death in Heaven" and "The Magician's Apprentice", and the place she takes Diana to is called Two Medicine Lake. Also, I'm going on vacation in about two days and that might mean that the next chapter is slightly delayed. Either way, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!**

"Martha, would you please let me in?"

"I already said no. I'm not budging."

"I need to see her!"

Confused after being woken by the loud voices outside my door, I groaned as I turned onto my side and pulled my blanket tighter around me.

"You'll see her when she's ready and actually _wants_ to see you."

"You don't understand. I need to talk to her. I have to explain-"

"And you'll be able to. But only when she says it's okay."

"Martha, please, I need to talk to her now!"

"And I told you to wait! So shut up and leave her alone until she's ready to talk to you!"

The Doctor fell silent then and a few moments later I could hear him trudging away from the door and down the stairs. Rubbing my eyes as I sat up, I readjusted myself on the bed so I was sitting comfortably with my legs extended in front of me. It was already early morning and sunlight was shining through the curtains to pour across the opposite wall.

 _Wait, how did I get here?_ I asked myself as I glanced around the room. _I don't remember… I didn't fall asleep here. I was with Missy by that lake… She must have taken me back when I fell asleep._

"Hey," I heard Martha mumble outside my door.

I started in surprise, thinking maybe I had made too much noise when I woke up. I really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. After those long hours with Missy, I needed some time to myself to gather my thoughts.

"Hey," a voice that I recognized as Sarah's replied.

"You're still here, then."

"Yeah."

"I thought you were angry at your mum?"

After a brief pause, Sarah sighed and said, "I was."

"So why did you come?"

I heard the sound of muffled footsteps and then the creaking of the wall as someone leaned against it. "I don't know. I guess… When you called and you told me what she was doing, just staying in her room and hardly eating or speaking, I felt… _guilty_."

"You should."

"Yeah, not really helping, Martha," Sarah grumbled.

"I'm just saying."

Sarah sighed. "I know."

"So… You came just because you felt bad?"

"Of course I felt bad. It's just that things have always been complicated with us. I never really felt much of anything for the Doctor because he left when I was young. But Mum would try and visit us sometimes and she'd tell us stories about her adventures and all the people she met. I wasn't always happy with her because she's my mum, she's supposed to stop bad things from happening to me and she still let the Doctor give me up."

"You know she would have stopped that from happening if she could."

"I suppose."

The two women fell silent for a few seconds until Martha spoke up again. "She thinks you hate her."

"She said that?" Sarah asked, sounding only mildly curious instead of worried.

"If you had a kid and they did to you what you did to Diana, you'd think they hated you too."

"I was angry," Sarah said after a heavy sigh. "And bitter. Wouldn't you be?"

"Yes."

"But I… I never…"

"Maybe you should tell her that," Martha suggested after a moment.

Sarah scoffed and lightly tapped against the wall with what sounded like her foot. "I don't think so."

"Sarah, what you did absolutely destroyed her," Martha said.

"And what she did destroyed me. We all have our problems, Martha."

"She needs you, now more than ever. She regrets what she did. You know that, you heard what she said."

"Yeah and I'll bet you planned for me to hear it."

"You really think I care so little about Diana that I'd arrange for her to basically get her heart broken just so you could watch?" Martha snapped. "I called you because I knew if she continued acting the way she was, she'd just spiral into depression. What happened between you two was bad enough and now she has to deal with the Doctor. I know you care, Sarah, that's why you came back. That's why you protected her last night. That's why you're still here."

"So?"

"So help her. I can only understand so much of what she's gone through. But you understand so much better than I ever could. And you're her daughter. You two need each other."

"Look, maybe you're right. Maybe I do care. But I can't just forget what happened."

"I'm not telling you to forget anything, just to understand-"

" _I_ understand perfectly," Sarah snapped. " _You_ have no idea what I've been through. None of you do."

"I'm only trying to help," Martha sighed.

"Well I don't need your help. I don't need anybody's help. I'm all grown up and I can take care of myself. I don't need you or the Doctor or my mother telling me what to do. So butt out."

I could just make out the sound of Sarah storming down the stairs as Martha sighed heavily. I fell back so my head landed against my pillow and let out a sigh of my own as I stared up at the ceiling. I didn't have long to dwell on everything I had heard though because Martha suddenly knocked on my door, making me start in surprise.

"Diana? You awake?" she asked softly.

"Mm, yeah," I mumbled as I moved to sit up in bed again.

The door creaked open and Martha stuck her head in through the opening. "I'm sorry," she said as she stepped inside the room. "We probably woke you with all that yelling."

"No, it's fine," I answered with a shake of my head.

"Did you hear everything?"

I glanced briefly at the spot on the door I had been staring at earlier and sighed. "Yes," I admitted. "But it's fine. You were just trying to help."

Martha bowed her head and walked over to the bed, sitting down on the edge with a saddened expression. "Everything I've done to try and help has just turned out all wrong."

"No-"

"It has though."

"But you tried. You wanted to help me. That's more than anyone else in this house has done for me. Although," I added as an afterthought, "I probably shouldn't ask for anything from Sarah after what I did to her…"

"That wasn't your fault though," Martha said.

"Wasn't it?"

"I know you'd never leave Sarah behind on purpose. Whatever happened, I know it wasn't because of you."

I nodded in silent understanding as I turned my head to look out the bedroom window. I couldn't quite manage to look Martha in the eyes after knowing that she had tried to fix everything for me when it was Missy who helped me instead. I almost wished Missy hadn't taken me back and just let me travel with her for a while instead because the thought of facing Sarah or the Doctor made me feel sick.

"How are you feeling?" Martha suddenly asked. "I didn't want to bother you last night, so I didn't come in. I thought you might need your space."

"I did. But I'm… I'm feeling better."

"You sure?"

I nodded and forced a smile, briefly meeting Martha's eyes. "Yeah. Not great, but better than I did last night."

"Do you want me to make you something and bring it to you? The Doctor's sulking in the living room."

"N-No, it's fine," I said weakly.

" _Diana_ -"

"Really. I… have to face him sometime," I sighed.

"But you don't have to do it now if you're not ready."

I shook my head and gently rubbed my hands over my face. "No, I've been whining about this for days now. I need to just get over it and shut up," I said as I pushed the covers away. I got out of bed and stretched a little before flashing Martha a mostly unconvincing smile. "I really hope you have toast."

I quickly ran my hands through my hair to make sure I didn't look like a complete mess and then headed for the door. Martha followed close behind me in silence, just keeping her eyes on me as if she was waiting for me to say or do something. As I walked down the stairs, I mentally prepared myself for the Doctor to immediately ambush me. I knew he felt bad for what we said to each other and I knew he wanted to apologize and explain himself, but I wasn't sure how much of it I could take before I broke down again.

However when I walked into the living room, the Doctor was nowhere to be seen. My heart skipped a beat and I started to panic almost immediately. Had he left again? Had he gotten tired of waiting for me and just decided to leave? I rushed around the living room in a blind panic, worried that the Doctor was gone for good this time, when I heard an exclamation from the kitchen.

"Doctor?" I called, my voice caught between hopeful and worried.

I ran into the kitchen to find the Doctor sucking on his left index finger, his brows drawn together in pain, while a skillet laid overturned on the still burning stove behind him. As soon as he saw me, the Doctor pulled his finger out of his mouth and rushed towards me.

"No, no, no, no, no!" he exclaimed as he put his hands on my shoulders. "No, you weren't supposed to come down yet!"

"What?" Martha and I asked in unison.

"This was supposed to be a surprise! Go back upstairs!" the Doctor pleaded as he turned me around. "Go, go, go!"

" _Doctor!_ " I exclaimed incredulously as the Time Lord pushed me out of the kitchen.

Martha was still in the kitchen and was trying to clean up the mess the Doctor had made. She turned the fire off and fixed the skillet so it was right side up, leaving behind half scrambled eggs all over the stove. The Doctor ran his hands through his hair and ran over to Martha, elbowing her aside to turn the fire back on.

"No, Martha, you've ruined it!"

"The eggs are all over the stove!"

"That's okay!" the Doctor replied. "Just… Out! Both of you!"

"Doctor, wait a second," I tried as I re-entered the kitchen. He was trying to sonic the eggs, although I wasn't sure what he thought that would accomplish, and was completely ignoring Martha and I. I put a hand on his forearm and tugged lightly so he would turn to face me. "Doctor, _wait_. What are you doing?"

The Doctor stared wide-eyed at me for a few seconds. "I'm… making you breakfast," he said slowly.

"Why?"

"Because I knew you'd be hungry. And… I wanted to show you that I still care."

I stared up at the Time Lord in silence, unsure of how to respond. A part of me knew that of course he still cared and that he was hurting just as much as I was. But another part of me was still both furious and hurt about what he had done. Although I had cried enough the day before, I could feel my eyes start to sting as tears started forming. I immediately looked away from the Doctor and blinked quickly to remove the unshed tears.

"Diana, please," he said gently. "Can I talk to you?"

"About what?"

"You know what. Please, just listen to me. You don't have to say anything, but at least listen."

I didn't want him to see if I started to cry again, but I didn't want him to think I didn't care about what he had to say. So I nodded once and turned so my back was partially facing him, crossing my arms over my chest. "Alright. I'm listening."

The Doctor sighed and I could hear him fidgeting with the sonic. "I'm sorry," he said slowly. "What I did was wrong and I realize that. I should never have left you, especially when you were so vulnerable. There's… nothing I can say to excuse what I did, but I need you to understand that I was absolutely terrified and ashamed of what you told me. My life on Gallifrey is a secret I keep very close to my heart and telling you even the slightest detail is one of the most difficult things I could ever do. Even after all these years that we've been together, I still find it difficult to speak about Gallifrey and everything that happened there."

He stopped for a moment and my heart nearly skipped a beat in the pregnant pause. I waited anxiously for him to continue, wondering what else he might say.

"That said, I shouldn't have left. You and Sarah are right, I abandon people. I don't like to think I do, but it's something I can't deny. You had every right to say what you did because all of it was true."

I looked over my shoulder at him and instantly felt guilty upon seeing the pained expression on the Doctor's face. "Theta-"

"I'm not saying this to make you feel bad," he interjected. "I just want you to know that you're not wrong and that I don't blame you for what you said."

"But aren't you angry with me?" I wondered.

"No. The things you said, although true, were said in the middle of a fight. Of course it hurt to hear them, but I deserved it and I absolutely don't blame you or hate you."

"But what you said- Last night, you told me-"

"I was angry too. Angry with myself for leaving you, for leaving Sarah, for what I did all those years ago, and I took it out on you when none of it was your fault." The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment and bowed his head. "I should never have said that. But, Diana, I didn't mean it. That was my anger and my frustration talking, not the real me. And believe me, I have never been more ashamed of myself than I am now."

As I gazed sadly at the Time Lord, I could see how much his actions were affecting him. He was so distraught about it that he couldn't even look me in the eyes, just like I could barely even look at him. The Doctor was still staring at the floor in silence with his chin pressed against his chest and a pained expression poorly hidden on his face.

"I believe you," I whispered. "And I understand. That doesn't mean that I forgive you, but I do understand. And I'm sorry for what I said, even if it was true."

The Doctor nodded in silence a few times before raising his eyes to look at me. "Thank you," he murmured.

I fell silent again and watched as the Doctor turned so his back was facing me. He looked in the direction of the stove and stared at it for a moment before suddenly stepping forward and starting to clean up the mess he had made. I considered helping him and wondered if that might ease the sudden tension between us, but I felt frozen in place. I didn't know what to say to him or what to do, and I didn't know if staying to help him would make matters better or worse.

Martha had seemingly disappeared during our discussion, but I didn't move to go after her. After considering my options, I decided to stay with the Doctor despite the fact that I desperately wanted to be on my own again. I stepped forward and stood beside the Doctor, reaching out for the skillet and bringing it to the kitchen sink so I could rinse it out. Once I cleaned the skillet, I set it on the countertop to dry and moved back to the stove. The Doctor had cleaned up the half cooked eggs and thrown them away already, and was already wiping up the remaining mess.

"Here," I said softly, extending my hand for the towel he was using. "Let me."

I very slowly wrapped my fingers around the towel and pulled it out of his hand. The Doctor took a half step back as I leaned forward and cleaned off the stovetop.

"I can- If you want, I could do that for you-"

"It's fine," I said with a half smile. I looked over my shoulder at the Time Lord and gestured to the stove. "See? I'm already done. Now did you want something for breakfast as well?"

"Diana, you can go back to bed if you want to. You don't have to-"

"I want to." I reached for the skillet and placed it on the stovetop again. "How many eggs do you want?"

The Doctor awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Well… Er, I-I guess… ten?"

I immediately whirled around to face the Time Lord and stared incredulously at him. " _What?_ "

"Ten," he repeated, the tone of his voice suggesting that the high number was completely normal.

"Ten eggs?"

"Yes, ten eggs."

"Why the hell would you want ten eggs?"

The Doctor just shrugged. "Because it matches my incarnation."

I stared at the Doctor in exasperation for at least a half minute, almost unable to believe what he had just said. "Are you… serious?" I asked slowly.

"Yes," the Time Lord responded casually.

"So when you're at incarnation number 50, you'll eat fifty eggs for breakfast?"

"Well, not quite because technically I wouldn't be able to reach incarnation number fifty, but I suppose if I _could_ reach incarnation number fifty then… yes, I would eat fifty eggs."

I continued to stare at him for another minute before I finally rolled my eyes and looked back at the stove. "Well if you want fifty eggs, you can make them yourself. But if you want to eat like a normal person, I'm going to make us both three eggs." I glanced around the kitchen in confusion then. "Where _are_ the eggs?"

"In the cupboard."

"Doctor, eggs don't belong in the cupboard."

"Don't they?"

"No, they go in the refrigerator."

The Doctor made a semi frown-y face that suggested the idea had never occurred to him. "Why would I want cold eggs?"

I stared incredulously at him and said, "So they don't go bad, maybe?"

"Why would they go bad?"

"I thought you were some kind of scientist?"

"I'm every kind of scientist."

"Do you not understand the science of how eggs spoil?" I wondered.

"Of course I do."

"Okay… So what is the problem here?"

The Doctor shrugged again and gestured to the cupboard with a nod of his head. "Food goes in the cupboard with other food," he said slowly.

I extended my arm in the direction of the refrigerator and asked, "So what's in there, a chemistry set?"

"… Milk?"

"That's _food_!"

"It's baby food and, you know, adult drink."

"Eggs go in the fridge, Doctor! What kind of Time Lord are you?"

As soon as those words left my mouth, I instantly regretted them. I had only meant to imply that the Doctor was acting stupid by putting the eggs somewhere other than the refrigerator like most normal people, but had instead said something that could be taken very badly. The amusement in the air fell away immediately and was replaced with tense silence. I stared at the stove in shock, not daring to look the Doctor in the eyes, and begged every deity in existence to let the ground swallow me whole.

"I-I'm sorry," I stammered. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-… I'm sorry," I said quickly before darting out of the kitchen.

I barely made it into the living room when the Doctor's hand suddenly snaked around my elbow and pulled me to a halt. His grip was gentle, but still firm enough to tell me that he wasn't letting me go anywhere, and he slowly turned me around to face him.

"Diana, it's okay," he assured me. "I know what you meant." When I refused to look him in the eyes, the Doctor moved his hand from my elbow to lightly cup my chin and he tilted my head up. " _Hey_. It's okay."

"I'm sorry."

"No, no, no, no, no, it's alright. I know what you meant, it's okay."

"I didn't even think," I said quickly.

"No, I know. It's fine-"

"Alright," Martha called from the kitchen, "who left the fire on?"

* * *

The rest of the day was spent with the Doctor and I trying awkwardly to avoid each maintaining eye contact for long periods of time or even speaking very much around each other. Martha left for work in the afternoon after we assured her that we could handle being in the same house together. I stayed in my room for the majority of the day, looking through some of the books scattered across the room and occasionally glancing through my phone, while the Doctor stayed downstairs. It wasn't until Martha returned home later that evening that she gave us both a thorough scolding.

"Look, I know you're both on edge around each other and I get why. You need your space and time alone, and that's fine, but there are things that we have to take care of and you two need to work together to get it all done."

"What things?" I asked in confusion.

"The folder Sally Sparrow gave me before Martha and I got stuck here," the Doctor told me. "It has a whole mess of information, most of it easy to understand, but it would help if you could go over it with me," he admitted.

I nodded. "Of course. Anything that I can do to help."

"Good." Martha smiled appreciatively at the Doctor and I. "Now I have to go to bed because I have an early shift tomorrow morning, but you two figure out whatever it is you need to do. Can you do that?"

"Yes," I said as the Doctor shyly mumbled the same answer.

"Thank you," the other woman sighed. "I'll see you two in the morning."

Martha headed upstairs immediately while the Doctor wandered over to the coat rack by the front door. I trailed along behind him and watched as he pulled a see through folder out of one the bigger-on-the-inside pockets in his brown coat. Although I didn't remember all the details of what was going to and had already happened, I recognized the folder as Sally's almost instantly.

"Did you want to look through it?" the Doctor asked, holding the folder out to me.

"Yeah, sure."

I grabbed the folder and wandered back into the living room where I plopped down on the couch. The Doctor watched from across the room as I began looking through all the different items in the folder and pulling them out to see them better. There was a small coffee table in front of the couch that I spread the items across and, once I had organized them all, I looked up at the Doctor.

"You can sit, if you want," I said softly. "I… don't mind."

"No, no, it's fine."

"Really. It's okay," I assured him. "But it's whatever you want."

We looked at one another in awkward silence before I finally glanced down at the table. There was a small stack of photographs of the writing on the wall that Sally would discover in her time, a list of DVD titles, the transcript of Sally and the Doctor's conversation, as well as a very old letter with a few black and white pictures attached to it, and a few pages of lined paper with various notes written in what I assumed was Sally's handwriting. As I leaned forward to pick up the transcript, the Doctor walked across the room and moved to sit on the far end of the couch.

"What's that?" he asked as he tried to look over my shoulder at the papers.

"The transcript."

"Oh, right. I've read that one a few times already," he said as he pulled his brainy specs from his jacket pocket and slipped them on.

I read over each line of the transcript, remembering most of what was said from when I had seen it all back home. I noticed that according to the notes, I never appeared on camera but was mentioned by both Martha and the Doctor. "How are you going to record this?" I asked as I finished reading.

"Martha's saving up some of her money so we can buy a camera. As soon as we get the camera, I'll record it."

"Are you just going to memorize everything?"

"Well, I guess so. It's not that hard. It's just the timing that I'll have to get right."

"Timing?"

The Doctor nodded and pointed to the transcript. "Yeah, knowing when Sally and Larry say their lines and how long I have to wait in between."

"I could help," I suggested. "I mean, I can remember how most of the lines are said and how long they are and everything."

"That would help," he admitted. "If you wouldn't mind, we could read through this together. Not now, but at some point. But only if you want to. I won't make you."

"No, I know. But I have to be useful somehow, right? And if I can help you get the TARDIS back and save Sally from the angels, then I'll do what I can. Although I can't promise to remember everything perfectly or to know everything."

The Doctor smiled and nodded. "I know, Diana. But what you do know and remember is more than enough for me."

We continued talking about the different items Sally had put in the folder and I told the Doctor whatever background information I could remember. I forced myself not to dwell on anything other than the task at hand because I knew if I thought too long and too hard about everything that had been said between the Doctor and I, even the apologies we had made to each other, I would only start to get emotional again. And I certainly didn't want to cry in front of the Doctor and make him feel worse.

It was very late when the Doctor and I both decided to finish talking about the folder's contents for the night. The Doctor gathered everything together and put it back into the folder and when he got up to replace the folder in his coat, I decided to leave to keep things from being even more awkward between us. I had been around the Time Lord for the majority of the day and despite feeling glad that we had come to an understanding, I knew I was ready to be alone with my thoughts for a while. I started up the stairs before the Doctor returned to the living room and hurried into my bedroom before he could call me back.

I started to pull off my jeans and prepare to sleep in just a shirt and underwear when I noticed something sitting at the foot of the bed. A small pile of fresh clothes had been neatly folded and left for me, along with a note that rested on top of the clothes.

 _"No need to thank me, dear. Just promise to call soon._

 _xx Missy"_

I smiled as I read over the note a dozen more times, looking between the note and the clothes Missy had gifted to me. I set the note down on the comforter and sorted through the pile of clothes. There were two pairs of dark denim jeans, a black knee length skirt decorated with a lovely pattern of pink roses, four different shirts, a light blue cotton nightgown decorated with tiny moons that reached mid calf, and a new leather jacket to replace the one that had been fully battered while I was on Gallifrey. At the base of the bed I found two new pairs of shoes, the first a pair of black flats with tiny black bows attached at the toes, and the second a pair of black converse.

I quickly changed into the nightgown and left my dirty clothes in a pile on the floor by my bed, while I moved my new clothes to rest on top of the shoes. I made myself comfortable in bed and typed out a quick text to Missy.

 _"Thank you so so much for the clothes. They're all so beautiful. I promise to call and thank you properly, but it's late and I'm exhausted. And thank you for bringing me back after our trip. Talk to you soon :)"_

As soon as I sent the message, I rested my phone on the nightstand and pulled the comforter up to my chin. It wasn't long before I drifted off to sleep and despite everything that had happened, I was happy because the Doctor and I had come to an understanding. And I had someone looking after me.

 **A/N: Please please please leave a review, my lovelies!**


	14. Begin Again

_"Mum!" Sarah screamed through the darkness, her voice cracking. "Mum, please! Mum, help! Mum!_

 _"Sarah!" I shouted as I stumbled forward blindly._

 _"Mum, please, make it stop! Make it stop!"_

 _The inky blackness around me suddenly disappeared and was replaced by endless whiteness. Sarah stood in front of me with tears pouring down her cheeks as her face was contorted in pain. Her entire body was surrounded by a soft golden glow as her form slowly went see-through. She was jumping through time just like I did, only for her the pain was excruciating._

 _"Mum!" she sobbed in pain. "Mum, please… Please, it hurts!"_

 _As Sarah began to disappear, I did as well and ended up following her. The golden glow shimmered away and as Sarah fell to her knees, an explosion sounded somewhere behind me. I whirled around to face the explosion and saw a fleet of Daleks approaching us shouting their battle cry. Sarah sobbed as she gazed hopelessly at the approaching aliens and barely sucked in a new breath before two shots of extermination energy flew past me and hit my daughter just over her two hearts._

 _"_ No! _" I screamed as Sarah's lifeless body toppled to the ground. "No! No, no, no, no!"_

 _The Daleks continued to fire at Sarah's body, keeping her from regenerating. I ran towards her body and fell to my knees at her side, cradling her body in my arms as more shots continued to rain down on us. The shots didn't kill me, but instead rocked me back and forth as I cried over Sarah's body._

 _"No, no, no," I whispered through my tears. Taking a deep, shaking breath, I closed my eyes and let out a bloodcurdling scream. "_ No, _please no!"_

I suddenly woke up after something jerked roughly on my shoulders. Gasping loudly in shock, I flew up into a sitting position with a final cry. Two hands suddenly flew into my line of vision and cupped my face, turning me towards a figure that I knew well.

"Diana, what is it?" the Doctor asked frantically.

"No," I begged through my tears. "Please…"

"Diana, what happened?"

"Sarah's dead," I sobbed as I fell forward against the Doctor's chest. "She's dead. She's dead because of me."

"No, no, no, no, no. No, Diana, no. Sarah's alive."

I shook my head as I wrapped my arms around the Time Lord's torso. "She's dead," I cried. "They killed her. They kept killing her. S-She was forced to… to time jump like me and she was killed and it's _all my fault._ "

"Hey, listen to me, listen to me, Diana. Sarah's alive."

"No." I shook my head. "They killed her. The Daleks _killed_ her! S-She couldn't even regenerate!"

" _Diana_ ," the Doctor said firmly, pulling away from me to look directly into my eyes. "Sarah is alive. I promise you she's alive right now and very, very far away from any Daleks."

"B-But-"

"It was just a dream," he assured me. "Just a dream, Diana. It wasn't real." He gazed silently at me for a moment or two while I continued softly crying. "Let me see?"

It took me a few seconds to understand what he was saying, but when I did I nodded. The Doctor placed his fingertips on my temples and closed his eyes as he asked for permission to enter my mind. I closed my eyes, still crying, and let him in. I could feel him moving through my mind, searching only for my dream and ignoring everything else. As soon as he found the dream, it began again and I felt absolutely sick having to experience it again. He forced the dream to stop before Sarah was shot and then very gently pulled out of my mind, his consciousness soothingly brushing against mine before he was suddenly gone.

The moment he exited my mind, the Doctor wrapped his arms around me again and pulled my against his chest. I buried my face in his shoulder and let out another sob as he rested his chin on top of my head. He slowly ran a hand up and down my back to try and comfort me as I wept openly into the curve of his neck.

"It's okay," he whispered. "It's alright. I'm here. You're safe, Sarah's safe, and nothing is going to hurt her. I promise."

The Doctor lightly pressed a kiss to my temple and moved his hand from my back to my head, where he began to run his fingers through my hair. The motion was both comforting and soothing and although I was still upset about the dream, I could feel myself slowly starting to calm down.

"I'm sorry," he said after a few minutes of silence between us. "About your dream, I'm sorry… Did you want me to take it for you? I could try to erase it from your memory if you wanted."

I shook my head firmly. "No," I said softly. "I don't want you in there." _I don't want you to see…_

"Diana, I only want to help-"

"I know. But I… I don't want you to."

He nodded slowly, sighing lightly in resignation. "Alright."

I could feel the Doctor's frustration and confusion at my refusal to his offer, so I pushed myself out of his arms and moved to lie on my side facing away from him. I stared at the window and looked at the tree just outside as it shimmered in the moonlight.

"What can I do to help?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm fine," I whispered.

"No you're not. You woke the entire house up with your screaming. That doesn't make you okay."

"It's _fine_ ," I said.

"It's not. You know it's not, so just let me help you."

 _I don't want you to hate me more than you already do. I don't want you to know how weak and scared I really am. I don't want to be a burden._

"What can I do? Tell me, please, what can I do? What _should_ I do? What do you need?" When I remained silent, the Doctor continued to speak to me. "Diana, I can't read your mind. I don't know what you're thinking, what you're feeling, unless you tell me. Please tell me. I only want to help."

Tears had started to well in my eyes as the Doctor pleaded with me. I had started to dwell on the dream again and could already feel my entire body start to tremble with the effort of withholding my tears.

"Diana, please, talk to me."

The cry I had been suppressing finally burst from my throat and I curled in on myself immediately. "It's my fault," I whispered. "She died because of me."

"What?"

"She was like me. She was being pulled through time by the vortex like I am. And because of that, she died. If it wasn't for me, that never would have happened."

"Diana, no. Sarah's not like that," he explained quickly.

I looked over my shoulder and stared in confusion at the Time Lord. "What?"

"Did you think our children were pulled into the time vortex like you are?" I sniffled and, after a moment of silence, nodded. The Doctor exhaled heavily and shook his head, reaching forward to put a hand on my upper arm. "You are unique in the universe. You and only you are taken out of time and space by the vortex. Our children have never had to worry about that and they never will."

"So they're… they're normal? They're not like me?"

"Completely normal," the Doctor assured me with a smile. "Well, as normal as they can be with time travelers for parents." He reached forward and lightly brushed a finger against my cheek, his smile fading slightly. "Did you think something was going to happen to them because of you? Is that why you had that dream?"

"I don't know," I murmured, glancing away from the Time Lord to look out the window again.

The Doctor pulled his hand back and rested it on the bed beside my waist. "What happened?" he asked. "Before Gallifrey?"

The memories that I had tried to block out about New York and the angels came rushing back and I closed my eyes. "Spoilers," I said. "Your future. I-I can't-"

"Before that, then."

"You met me for the first time," I said slowly. "I'd forgotten about it, sort of. Once I ended up on Gallifrey, everything happened so quickly. I didn't have a lot of time to focus on what had happened because I busy learning how to fight, how to hunt, how to survive. I just… pushed everything aside and forgot about it. But I guess I didn't really forget, did I?"

"Did you want to talk about it?" the Doctor asked.

I raised my eyebrows. "Right now?"

"If you want. I just thought it might help, but if you don't want to I understand." The Doctor sighed lightly and hung his head as he gazed at a spot on the bed just beside my shoulder. "I'm sorry for the way I treated you back then. I never really apologized for what happened."

"You didn't know me and you had no reason to trust me. I know that."

"But that doesn't excuse the things I said, the things I did."

"I forgive you," I said softly, my eyes slowly flitting up to meet the Doctor's. "I know you were just trying to protect yourself and Susan. I was a stranger who was potentially dangerous. I'd have been the same."

The Doctor nodded once before looking away again, seemingly unable to hold my gaze for very long. He looked back down at the bed and fiddled with a loose string on the comforter. "When you were on Gallifrey," he began slowly, his voice strained just slightly, "you went to the Wastelands. What happened there?"

"I was found by a member of Nesbin's tribe and after I was interrogated and deemed not dangerous, they allowed me to become part of the tribe. I had to learn how to hunt for myself and how to fight, although I really only learned basic fighting techniques. Enough to defend myself and hurt my attacker if necessary, but not much else. And I… made friends when I was there. Madelie, Lenaya, Anouk, Kyra… It wasn't the same as the friendship I have with Martha or River or Missy-"

"Who?"

I shook my head. "Never mind. My point is that even though I couldn't really be myself around them, they were still my friends and we bonded. We were together for six months and now I don't know if I'll ever see them again. Like how I thought I might never see you again either."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said seriously and I knew he meant it. "If I could have gone after you, I would have. I never wanted you stranded there because I knew that anything could happen and I wouldn't be there to help you. I was so worried… Until you appeared again and proved that you were safe and sound."

I nodded a little absently, still listening to the Doctor as he spoke but also letting my mind wander a little to something else that had bothered me back on Gallifrey. Speaking about my time in the Wastelands and the friends I had made there triggered my memory of everything that I had pushed to the back of my mind after my argument with the Doctor. First and foremost in my mind at that moment was the memory of my friend Madelie regenerating and the worries it had generated.

"Diana?"

I blinked, the Doctor's voice drawing me out of my thoughts. "Hm?"

"What's wrong?" he asked.

I shook my head and glanced down at the bed. "Um, nothing," I sighed. "I'm just… tired, I guess."

The Doctor nodded in understanding and suggested, "Why don't you go back to sleep? We can talk more tomorrow, if you want."

I played back in the bed so my head was resting on my pillow again, nodding slightly as I looked up at the ceiling. "Okay," I said simply.

The Doctor stayed frozen on the edge of the bed for a moment or two before he suddenly stood up and started for the door. Realizing my mistake in not saying anything else, I sat up so I was supported on my elbows and called the Doctor's name.

"Are you-? Where are you going?"

"Downstairs. I don't want to bother you if you're going to sleep. Besides, I, uh, should look over that file again," he said as he lightly scratched the back of his neck, his body framed in the doorway of my bedroom.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll see you in the morning then," I mumbled, feeling a little disappointed that he didn't want to stay. _You haven't exactly made him feel welcome,_ I told myself. _What did you expect?_

"Goodnight."

I nodded and forced a brief smile. "Night."

The Doctor nodded once and walked out into the hall, closing the door behind him. I fell onto my back and sighed in disappointment and frustration. It was unlikely that I would go back to sleep anytime soon after my dream, especially without anyone there to stay beside me as a form of comfort. Even after six months alone in a tent on Gallifrey I hadn't managed to wean myself from seeking comfort from others.

I stayed in bed, wide awake and staring at the ceiling or the window, for what felt like hours but was most likely only a few minutes. As soon as the Doctor had left, I missed him despite everything that had been said and misunderstood between he also few days. I wanted him to come back and run his hands through my hair and tell me everything would be alright. I wanted Missy to take me away from everything so I could pretend that nothing at all was wrong. I wanted Sarah to come back and forgive me for what I'd failed to do as her mother. Memories and worries and fears were buzzing around my brain and I couldn't find sleep no matter how hard I tried.

The door to my room suddenly opened, startling me, and I turned to see the Doctor's silhouette in the doorframe. "Theta?" I asked in confusion, absentmindedly using the nickname I had tried not to use ever since the event I had witnessed.

"You can't sleep, can you?"

Sitting up, I shook my head and awkwardly scratched my arm. "No."

"Do you want me to stay?"

"Yes."

The Doctor came into the room, the door swinging shut behind him, and shuffled over to the bed. I moved over to the left side of the bed, the side closest to the window, and watched as the Doctor toed off his shoes before moving to lie down beside me. He sat on top of the comforter with his back mostly pressed against the headboard and his long legs crossed at the ankles.

I wanted to lean forward and curl up against his chest, but I worried that maybe that wasn't appropriate. How was I supposed to proceed about normal couple things with the reminder of our argument always hanging in the air between us? The Doctor seemed to sense that I wasn't sure what to do, so he stretched out his left arm and gestured for me to curl up against him.

"Just for now, let's not worry about anything, alright? There's no expectations or rights or wrongs. I've missed you and I know you need someone right now. So if you'll still have me…"

"I've missed you too," I said softly before scooting forward to lean against the Doctor's chest.

His arm came down around my shoulders as I settled comfortably between him and the pillows. Hearing his familiar double heartsbeat after so long without it brought the tiniest smile to my lips. After a few seconds, the Doctor moved his arm from around my shoulders to a different position so that he could play with my hair and the action immediately soothed my racing mind.

"Is this alright?" he asked gently.

I nodded and smiled genuinely, snuggling even more into the Time Lord's chest. "Yes."

"How long do you want me to stay?"

I stayed silent for a long couple of minutes as I considered my response. I honestly wasn't sure what to say to him, but I did know that I didn't want him to leave anytime soon. Curling my fingers around the lapel of his pinstripe jacket, I whispered, "Just promise you'll still be here when I wake up."

The Doctor nodded and pressed a kiss to the crown of my head. "I'll stay for as long as you need me to," he answered. "I promise."

I wrapped an arm around the Doctor's torso and held onto him tightly. It was good to be with him again after so many months apart, especially since the last time I had seen the Time Lord in his tenth incarnation was right before he regenerated. Slowly but surely, my eyes began to feel heavy and I felt myself gradually drifting off to sleep.

"Don't go," I mumbled in a haze, my head falling forward as I grew more and more tired.

"I won't. I'm not going anywhere."

My eyelids fluttered shut as the Doctor continued playing with my hair and just a few moments later, I was fast asleep.

* * *

I woke of my own accord hours later, my vision slightly fuzzy until I blinked a few times to clear it. I let out a partial yawn and stretched out my legs under the comforter only to lightly kick another pair of legs that sat on top of the sheets. It took me just a second to remember what had happened before I fell asleep and when I turned my head to my right, I saw the Doctor sitting beside me and snoring lightly. His head was tilted back and resting against the top of the headboard with his glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. Sally's folder was resting in his lap with a few of the papers spread across his thighs.

It was possible not to smile at the Doctor because he looked downright adorable. Very slowly so as not to wake him, I reached forward and gathered up the loose papers before placing them back in the folder. Then I turned over so I could put the folder on my bedside table right next to my phone. Once the folder was out of the way, I let out another yawn and stretched my arms out in front of me. My shoulders popped and I sighed happily before rolling onto my back and glancing up at the still sleeping Doctor.

His presence throughout the night had been a constant comfort while I was sleeping and was most likely the reason I hadn't had any bad dreams again. Because of the way he was sitting in bed and the way his arms were crossed low over his stomach, I couldn't really rest my head against his arm or torso. So instead I moved a few inches closer and curled up into a ball so I could snuggle against him.

However, my movements were jarring enough to have woken the Doctor. He made a tired noise in the back of his throat before yawning and letting his arms fall from his waist, meaning that his left elbow smacked not-so-lightly into my forehead.

" _Ow!_ " I yelped surprise.

The Doctor instantly turned so he was facing me and took my face in his hands. I had already pressed a hand to my forehead and was glaring up at the Time Lord, who was smiling apologetically. He nudged my hand aside and leaned forward to lightly kiss my forehead.

"I'm sorry."

"Ow," I repeated softly as I reached up to rub the sore spot on my forehead again.

"I'm really sorry," he whispered as he kissed my forehead a second time. "Are you okay?"

I nodded and stared at the Time Lord's chest in embarrassment. "Yeah."

The Doctor absently ran the pad of his thumb along my cheek. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were so close," he explained as his cheeks flushed light pink.

His comment only made me flush as well and I shrugged a little. "It's okay," I murmured.

The Doctor gazed down at me for a few moments before leaning back and finally pulling away completely. "How did you sleep?" he asked after pulling away and moving to lean back agains the headboard again.

I sat up and let the comforter pool around my waist. "Alright," I said. "No dreams."

"Good… Are you… hungry?" he asked awkwardly.

"A little, yeah."

"Me too. I might even have eggs."

"Oh my God, no," I groaned as I covered my face with my hands. "We are not having that discussion again."

"So I'm not allowed to have ten eggs for breakfast?" the Doctor teased.

" _No_."

I peered through my fingers at the Time Lord and burst into laughter when I saw the mischievous grin on his face. The Doctor laughed softly with a gentleness in his eyes as he gazed at me. After our laughter died down, he reached out and took hold of my hand.

"Why don't you stay here while I go downstairs and make breakfast?" he suggested.

"Are you kidding? After you tried and failed to make eggs, I'd be surprised if you didn't burn the entire kitchen down."

"I'll try very hard not to burn anything."

I shook my head. "You tried to sonic the eggs last time. I don't think you actually know what you're doing. I'll take care of it this time-"

" _Diana_ ," he interjected, lightly applying pressure to my hand to make me stop, "please. I want to do it for you."

His response was so unexpected that I didn't really know what to say and ended up just staring silently at the Time Lord for a while. "O-Okay," I said after a minute.

"Just… let me do this for you," he said seriously.

"I didn't know making breakfast meant so much to you," I muttered half jokingly.

"It's not the food, it's me doing something for you to show you I care."  
"Doctor, I _know_ you care-"

"Please. I know it doesn't seem that important to you, but to me it's the most important thing I could do."

"It's just eggs, Doctor."

"No. It's me doing everything I can to make up for what I did, to apologize, to prove that I made a mistake and that I want to fix it. I feel so beyond guilty for what I did and I am going to spend the rest of my life fixing it if I have to." The Doctor suddenly cupped my cheek in his other hand and gazed seriously at me. "I love you and I will do whatever it takes to make sure you know that I will never abandon you again. And that I am so, so sorry."

I gazed wide-eyed at the Doctor, surprised by the sudden seriousness that the conversation had taken on. I was of course deeply moved by his sincerity, but was also a little stunned that he was so adamant to prove himself through breakfast food. However, I wasn't going to stop him if it really meant so much to him. I finally nodded and leaned back a little, pulling away from his hand slightly.

"Stay right here," the Doctor whispered, grabbing my hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it before jumping out of bed. "I'll be right back."

I started reading one of the books scattered throughout the room while the Doctor was hard at work in the kitchen, knowing it would take the Time Lord a while to get anything done. About an hour later, after lots of shouting from the kitchen for me to stay put until he had finished, the Doctor returned to my room with a tray of mostly un-singed food. I set my book aside on the bedside table as the Doctor walked across the room and placed the tray across my thighs.

"Thank you," I sighed as I looked over the food he had brought me. The meal consisted of two pieces of very buttery pieces of toast that were only singed around the edges, properly cooked scrambled eggs that were only a little runny, and a tall glass of milk that had spilled a little on the tray. "Doctor, this looks wonderful."

The Doctor beamed proudly and flashed me an excited grin. He adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose and looked expectantly at me for a few moments, his eyes flitting between the food and myself. Realizing that he was waiting for me to try the meal, I immediately grabbed a piece of toast and took a bite from the least burnt side. Because it had been heavily coated in butter and was still a little warm, the toast was much better than I had anticipated and I hummed in appreciation.

"Well?" the Time Lord asked anxiously.

"It's very good," I praised.

"Try the eggs," he urged excitedly.

I smiled and picked up the fork resting beside the plate, gently poking the eggs with one of the prongs on the utensil before finally taking a bite. Much to my surprise, they weren't burnt or otherwise ruined and were quite good apart from the fact that they were just slightly runny. I washed the eggs down with a few long sips of milk and, after licking away my milk mustache, I turned back to the Doctor and grinned up at him.

"It's very good," I said again. "Congratulations on not destroying the eggs."

"Well," he began as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, "those were the third set of eggs I made. The others… didn't really work out."

"I'll have to show you how to properly make eggs then."

"You might have to," the Doctor sighed. He suddenly leaned forward and took hold of the edge of my plate. "You're done, right?"

"Yes," I said slowly.

"Do you want some more? I can try and make some more for you. Did you want bacon? I don't even know if we have bacon. Well, we might. I could have just forgotten."

"No," I laughed. "It's fine, Doctor. Thank you."

"Do you want some more milk? Or juice maybe? Or water. Water's good."

" _Theta_ ," I whispered before he could continue rambling, "I'm fine. I don't need anything else." I reached over the plate with my free hand and lightly grasped his arm. "I know why you're doing this and I appreciate it. I really do. But you don't have to worry so much."

"I have to make it up to you-"

"And you're doing an excellent job so far. I know you feel bad, but you don't have to make me bacon to apologize."

The Doctor shook his head and looked seriously at me. "I'll make you all the bacon in the world," he told me. Then, after a second, his serious expression turned into a slightly embarrassed one. "That… sounded less ridiculous in my head."

"If it makes you feel any better, I will eat as much of the bacon as possible," I said with a laugh.

"It does," he answered with a grin. The Doctor then leaned forward, the plate still grasped between our chests, and kissed my forehead. "Now, come on. Up you get. Time to get out of those pajamas and come downstairs. Where _did_ you get those, by the way? I don't remember Martha buying those for you."

I glanced down at the light blue nightgown Missy had given to me and smiled. "Oh, it was a gift. From a friend."

"From who?" the Doctor asked, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"A future friend," I said after a moment.

"Ah. Spoilers, then."

I nodded. "Yeah. Spoilers. Sorry."

"Well, put on some real clothes anyway. Can't spend all day in here, can you?" The Doctor grabbed Sally's folder off my bedside table and tucked it under his arm. "Come on!"

I watched the Doctor practically fly out of the room and smiled fondly at him. But as soon as he was gone, my smile faltered a little. I knew that he was trying to make up for what he'd said and done, but that didn't erase what had happened. And I knew he was sorry, we both were, but I couldn't help thinking back to the few days I had spent thinking that my boyfriend might never come back to me. I still loved him, but it would take a while for my trust in him to be as strong as it once was.

 **A/N: I know it took a while, but here;s the new chapter! I really hope you all enjoyed it. Please don't forget to review!**


	15. Author's Note

**Hi everyone. So I wanted to apologize for the long gaps between updates, but I've been sick the last few days and have also been kind of at a loss with what I want to write. So I wanted to ask a favor from you lovely readers if you could just let me know what you want to see in the next chapter. Anything from more interactions between Di and the Doctor, Di and Martha, more of Sarah, or anything else you might be interested in. But let me know specifically what you want so I can do my best on it.**

 **Thanks again, everyone. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter up very soon!**


	16. Together Again

**A/N: Let's just say, you should be prepared.**

The rest of the day the Doctor and I spent looking over Sally's folder again. I had already told the Time Lord everything that I could remember, but re-reading some of the letters and notes that Sally had made helped jogged my memory a little. The Doctor asked about Billy Shipton and I told him everything I remembered: how he was taken by the angels, how the Doctor was able to find him, and how he died. That led to the Doctor asking about the timey-whimey detector that he had apparently not made yet.

"All I know is what it's called and that it goes ding when there's stuff," I said with a shrug. "And that it can do something to an egg from a certain distance."

"Do you know what's it made of?"

"I don't know. The toaster, maybe? The toaster dings, doesn't it?"

The Doctor rubbed his chin thoughtfully and hummed softly. "It must be similar to that device I made to track down TOMTIT," he mumbled.

"… TOMTIT?" I repeated slowly. "Isn't that, like, back from when you were working at UNIT?"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded. "The device I made was able to detect abnormalities, anomalies, and disturbances in the normal flow of time. If I made something similar to that, then I'd be able to detect any anomalies that would manifest themselves when Billy gets displaced in time and that would help us track him down when he does appear here!"

"How are you going to make it, though? You don't have the TARDIS."

"No, but I have this," the Doctor said as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his sonic. "And I have you."

I smiled and shook my head. "You do realize that I know literally nothing about science or mechanics or _anything_ like that, right?"

"I know. But you could still help. If you wanted. You know, like when I showed you how to fix the TARDIS back when I was all ears. Remember?"

It took me a moment to realize what the Doctor was talking about, but when I remembered it a grin broke out across my face. When the Doctor had still been traveling with Rose and Jack, he'd parked the ship in Cardiff and had gone around fixing things in the console room. I remembered when we had both been laying under the console together as the Doctor explained to me what he was doing.

"That was a long time ago," I breathed.

"But… a good memory?" he asked hesitantly.

I glanced at the Time Lord and nodded with a smile. "Yes."

"We could… do that again? If you wanted," he added quickly, trying not to sound like he was pushing anything onto me.

"If you think I wouldn't ruin anything."

"Diana, you're brilliant. You could really help me. I mean it. But, you don't have to."

"No, I…" I nodded and smiled again. "I'd like to help in any way I can."

The Doctor leapt up from his seat on the couch and began pacing back and forth in front of me. "Right, well if we're going to make a timey-whimey detector, we're going to need a few things," he told me.

"Wait, you're making it right now?" I asked.

The Doctor nodded before he started walking towards the kitchen. "Why not? Best to get it ready as soon as possible so we don't miss Billy."

I pushed myself off of the couch and followed the Doctor into the kitchen, watching as he looked thoughtfully at the toaster from across the room. "Doctor…," I said slowly. "I was kind of kidding about the toaster."

"Mm, but I wasn't," he said before stepping forward and pulling the toaster out of the wall by its plug.

" _Hey!_ " I exclaimed.

The Doctor aimed his sonic at the toaster and ran it along the edges, before placing the sonic between his teeth and ripping the toaster apart. In just a few seconds, the toaster was in pieces across the kitchen counter as the Doctor looked over each piece and scanned it with his sonic.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I came up behind the Doctor.

"Looking for the ding-y part."

"Okay…"

Later that evening, long after sunset, the Doctor had already started to assemble his timey-whimey detector with bits of the toaster and what looked like some kind of tape recorder he had found in the living room. I wasn't much help since putting together a time anomaly detector wasn't exactly my forte, but I was able to understand the very basics of what the Doctor was doing so long as he explained it to me. Not long after dinner time, Martha finally returned home.

"I'm home!" she called from the entryway.

"We're in here!" I shouted as I stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room. "Where were you? I thought your shift was shorter than-."

I stopped myself mid sentence when I saw the young woman standing beside her. She was avoiding my gaze and instead looking at the floor in silence. Martha sighed softly and gestured to Sarah with a roll of her eyes.

"Took me hours to get through to her, but she finally listened to me. Er, where's the Doctor?"

"In the kitchen making his timey-whimey detector," I answered slowly.

"Could you get him?"

I walked back to the doorway between the living room and the kitchen and knocked against the wall. "Doctor?"

"Just a mo," he mumbled as he stared intently at his new tool.

"Doctor, could you come here for a second?"

"Mm hm," he hummed absently.

" _Theta_ , come here." The Doctor looked up at my use of his name and stared wide-eyed at me, a pencil between his teeth and his glasses perched on the edge of his nose. "Come on."

"What is it?"

"Just come here."

Pulling off his glasses and placing both them and the pencil on the countertop, the Doctor wandered over to me with a questioning expression. I stepped back and turned around so I could face Martha and Sarah. The Doctor followed me and then stopped short beside me as soon as he saw our daughter.

" _S-Sarah_ ," he stammered in surprise.

Martha looked at Sarah with her eyebrows raised, then nudged her in the ribs with an elbow. "Well? Go on," she scolded.

Heaving an almost melodramatic sigh, Sarah rolled her eyes and turned her head so she could finally look at the Doctor and I. "I'm supposed to say," she began in an annoyed tone, "sorry for yelling at Mum and then running off. And then running off again yesterday. And that I won't run off again."

"And…?" Martha prompted.

" _And_ … that I won't yell at Mum for things she hasn't done yet." Glancing at Martha, Sarah muttered, "There. _Happy?_ "

Martha pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. "It'll do," she said.

"Sarah, where have you been?" the Doctor asked. "I was worried sick!"

"I'll bet you were," Sarah scoffed.

"I was! You just ran off! I had no idea where you were or if you were alright-"

"What about you?" Sarah asked, looking at me this time. "Did you wonder where I was?"

I nodded seriously. "Yes. I… had a nightmare about you, as a matter of fact."

Sarah's eyes widened just a fraction, but I could see that she was surprised even though she didn't say anything. Martha watched my daughter in silence for a few seconds before she lightly smacked Sarah's forearm. Before Sarah could even protest, Martha gave her a stern look that was incredibly impressive considering she was almost four inches shorter than Sarah.

"Ugh, al _right!_ " she exclaimed childishly. Looking back at us, Sarah shook her head in frustration. "Miss Jones wants me to stay here with you. She seems to think it's a good idea."

"And you're listening to her… why, exactly?" the Doctor wondered.

Sarah's annoyed expression morphed into a knowing smirk as she looked at Martha. "Well she's hot, isn't she?"

Martha's face flushed in embarrassment and I felt my mouth drop open in shock. I stared wide-eyed at her as I asked, "Wait, you're…?"

"Gay?" the Doctor finished for me.

"Ladies all the way," Sarah replied with a wink. Her smirk suddenly dropped as she looked at the Doctor and I. "And if you have a problem with that, then you can fuck off."

I was so stunned that I couldn't even speak. Of course there was nothing wrong with my daughter being gay, even if it was somewhat jarring, although I wasn't too keen on her suddenly cursing at me. The Doctor just stammered for a few seconds before finally falling silent. Before any of us could say or do anything else, something exploded in the kitchen.

"What the hell was that?" Martha asked.

The Doctor ran back into the kitchen with me right behind him. He skidded across the floor to the counter where his device was smoking. "No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" he cried. "Oh, and I was almost done!"

Sarah stepped past me into the kitchen and moved to stand beside the Doctor. "What's this?" she asked.

"My timey-whimey detector," he answered with a pout.

Sarah grabbed the Doctor's glasses off the countertop and put them on before leaning over to inspect the device. She then grabbed his sonic screwdriver and started scanning it, her lip caught between her teeth as she concentrated on the device. After a minute, she pulled back and looked up at the Doctor.

"You've got it completely wrong. The polarity isn't right and the wires you've used from _my toaster_ , I might add, aren't strong enough for the amount of power you're using. Also, did you use my tape recorder?"

"Wait, _her_ toaster?" I repeated to myself.

Martha, who was standing beside me and watching Sarah and the Doctor interact, nodded. "Yeah. She was the one who helped us get the house. She wouldn't tell me much, just that most of the things in here were hers. I figure it's her house, even though she doesn't really use it that much. She said she lived at work, wherever or whatever that is."

Martha and I stood back and watched as father and daughter worked together on the timey-whimey detector. Although it was more Sarah correcting the Doctor's mistakes as he tried, and failed, to fix the device.

The next month mostly followed the same pattern: Sarah and her father working on the timey-whimey detector, me cooking meals for everyone, Martha going off to work, and evenings in front of the TV or in the backyard while we gazed up at the stars. The Doctor continued to try and do nice favors for Sarah and I every day, bringing me a bouquet of flowers he had handpicked or bringing us both a stack of books from the library that he thought Sarah and I might like. Sarah was still a little distant from the Doctor and I, which I understood and respected, but over time she began to grow more comfortable with us. We felt more and more like a family with each day that passed and although it was a little difficult to get along at times, I was happy that the Doctor and I could be with our daughter and try to make up for lost time.

While the bond between Sarah, myself, and the Doctor started to repair, so did my relationship with the Doctor. We were still a little awkward around each other and I was still hesitant with him, but it was easy to tell that we both missed the closeness we had once had. After speaking about it with each other, we finally decided to try and put the past behind us and focus on the present. Over time, the awkwardness faded away and we became increasingly comfortable with each other. The seriousness of our argument was still there and the worries it had brought were still valid, but we didn't let it hang over us and continue to put a strain on our relationship.

Then, on a completely normal day, as I sat under the tree in the backyard and enjoyed the cool breeze, something happened that I had definitely not anticipated. A loud pop sounded across the yard and I jumped in surprise as a person shimmered into view right in the middle of the bed of roses. It was a beautiful young woman with shoulder length blonde hair, dark blue jeans and a matching blue leather jacket, a dark purple undershirt, and a large gun strapped across her chest.

 _What the-?_ I scrambled to my feet in confusion as the woman stepped out of the flowerbed and shook the dirt off her shoes. "Rose?" I asked incredulously.

Rose blinked in surprise before flashing me her tongue-in-teeth grin and running across the yard to embrace me. "Oh my God," she breathed as she pulled back, "it's you! It's really you!"

"What are you doing here?"

"Never mind that, look at you! It's been _years!_ " Rose looked around the yard then. "Where are we? I thought it'd look different than this. Everything looks so… normal."

"Rose," I started seriously, "I don't think you're supposed to be here."

"I know, but I had to get back to this universe-"

"No, I mean, this time. You shouldn't be here."

"Well what year is it?"

"It's 1969."

Rose's eyes widened in shock. "Oh," she breathed. "I'm off by… what, almost forty years? I need to get to 2008."

Looking down at Rose's torso, I spotted the dimension canon on a chain around her neck. I reached out for it and took it in my hands to look at it.

"No, Diana, wait-"

"Is this-"

" _Careful!_ " she exclaimed.

Rose reached out for the device and tried to pull it out of my hands, but her fingers wrapped around mine and caused me to push down on the central button. With a buzz of electricity, the dimension canon whirred to life and we left 1969 with a flash of light.

 **A/N: So... Thoughts?**


	17. The Stolen Earth

**A/N: So I kind of struggled with getting the ending just right and I'm still not 100% pleased with it, but it's still not bad.**

Hardly a second later, Rose and I appeared in a large room and we immediately stumbled over one another before falling to the floor. I landed on my side next to Rose while she fell on her back with her gun landing on top of her. I rolled onto my back with a groan and was immediately surrounded by a small group of men and women armed with guns similar to Rose's.

"No, wait!" Rose exclaimed as she jumped to her feet. "Wait, it's okay! She's okay!"

"Who is this?" one of the women asked.

"She's a friend. I know her. Just put your guns down!"

After a moment of silence, the woman nodded and gestured for the others to lower their weapons. Rose extended a hand to me and helped pull me to my feet, then turned to look at the woman again.

"Captain Bambera, this is Diana Scott. I used to travel with her back home. She's with the Doctor." Captain Bambera looked at me through narrowed eyes, obviously trying to see if I posed any threat. Rose sighed and placed a hand on Bambera's forearm, looking seriously into her eyes as she said, "It was an accident, but it's fine. Everything's still on schedule."

"Is it?" Bambera replied sharply, her eyebrows raised.

Rose nodded. "I just need another canon and I'll be on my way. Mum and Mickey can explain everything to her."

Bambera pursed her lips and sighed. "Very well. But you know what will happen if this goes kaput. It'll be on your head, Tyler."

"I know."

"Um," I began softly, "could somebody tell me what's going on?"

Captain Bambera snapped her fingers as she shouted, "Someone get me a fresh canon, _now!_ " Then she gestured to Rose and I with her finger. "You two, follow me. Let's make this quick."

The Captain started walking across the room, pulling her gun off her shoulders and handing it to a soldier as she passed him, while Rose and I quickly followed. "Who is she?" I whispered to Rose.

"Former UNIT director, now head of Torchwood Institute."

"UNIT?" I repeated incredulously.

Rose nodded. "Yeah. Her mother was Brigadier Winifred Bambera and after her mother retired, she became head director of UNIT until it was disbanded. Then she joined Torchwood. Basically, she's my boss and it's best if you don't get on her bad side."

Ahead of Captain Bambera a young man came running into the room through a door, something clutched in his hands. He skidded to a halt in front of Bambera and handed her the device in his hands, then Bambera turned and handed it to Rose.

"Be careful," she said.

The device was another dimension canon and Rose returned the old one to Bambera before slipping the new one around her neck. Rose nodded seriously at Bambera before glancing at me with a hesitant smile. "See ya 'round," she muttered before disappearing with a flash.

Captain Bambera sighed heavily and immediately began ordering the men and women still standing around me. "Reynolds, Gray, with me, the rest of you to your stations. Miss Scott, please follow me."

I didn't want Bambera to find me any more of a nuisance than she already did, so I merely nodded in silence and followed her as she guided me across the room and to an open doorway. The two men she had asked to stay with us walked silently behind me with their guns held closely to their chests. Through the doorway was another room, only a little smaller and with the walls lined with varying weapons and protective gear. Standing on one side of the room and pulling on a black leather jacket was Mickey, his body angled just slightly away from us. Across the room from Mickey was Jackie Tyler, wearing a very conspicuous, pale blue outfit.

"Mrs Tyler, Mr Smith," Bambera called, "I believe you know this woman?"

Mickey and Jackie both turned around to face Captain Bambera and they both gasped in shock the moment they saw me. "Oh my God," Jackie murmured as her hands moved to cup her mouth. Mickey's mouth had dropped open and he grinned at me. "Diana, is that you?"

I smiled and nodded, waving a little awkwardly at the pair. "Um, hi," I said.

Jackie immediately rushed across the room and pulled me into a firm hug. Mickey laughed under his breath and walked over to pull Jackie and I into a hug, his arms wrapped around both of us.

"I hate to break up this reunion, but I have much more important things to take care of and Rose said you two would explain everything to her."

Mickey immediately pulled back and nodded at Bambera, giving her a mock salute. "We'll take care of it, ma'am," he said seriously.

"And make it quick. The two of you _have_ to be gone within the hour."

"That gives us… thirty minutes," Mickey said as he glanced at his wristwatch. "More than enough time, Captain."

Bambera nodded. "Very well." With a nod to Mickey and Jackie, she saluted them both. "Good luck."

Once Bambera had left, Jackie pulled me into another hug with a squeal of delight. "Oh God, it's been _ages!_ Look at you!"

"Jackie," Mickey began in a low voice, "come on, we haven't got much time."

"I know, but I want to at least say hello," she replied after releasing me from her hug.

Mickey glanced back at me and smiled again. "C'mere, you," he laughed before tugging on my arm to pull me into yet another hug. I was lodged between Mickey's arm and chest as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Been a long time."

I nodded and wrapped my arms around him for a moment, recalling the first and only time I'd ever met Mickey back in Cardiff. "Yeah," I sighed.

"Where's Rose? Is she alright?" Jackie asked.

"Yes," I answered when Mickey and I separated. "She's fine. She just left again."

"How did you get here without a dimension canon?" Mickey wondered.

"Rose… ended up in 1969 somehow, which is where I was. And I was stupid and I grabbed the canon, just to look at it, and then she tried to grab it and we accidentally ended up here. It's my fault."

"Did she get another canon?" Mickey asked worriedly. "She left right away, didn't she?"

"Uh, yeah she did."

Mickey and Jackie both breathed a sigh of relief. "Good," Jackie sighed. "At least she's back on schedule."

"What's this schedule?" I questioned.

"Doesn't matter," Mickey told me. He walked back to his previous spot by the wall and put a hand on one of the guns there. "All you need to know is how to use a canon and how to fire one of these babies. We've got twenty-five minutes and you're smart, so it should be easy." Walking over to the open doorway, Mickey shouted, "We need another fresh canon here!"

"How many canons have you got?" I asked curiously.

Mickey only said, "Enough." He gestured for me to follow him over to the wall, where he grabbed one of the guns and took it off the wall. "Now, you hold it like this with the strap over your shoulder so you can aim and fire easily. And it's much lighter than it looks, so you'll be fine. Even Jackie can lift one."

"Oi, watch it," the blonde retorted, "or you'll get a smack, you will."

"Here, slip it on," Mickey instructed as he handed me the gun.

The gun was much lighter than I anticipated and was easy to lift, even without the strap to add extra support. Once I had the strap across my chest, I adjusted the gun so I could hold it while the side of it was braced against my thigh. Mickey placed my hands in the appropriate places and then showed me how to power the gun up.

"And then you just aim and fire," Mickey finished with a reassuring smile.

Just then another man ran into the room, a new canon in his hands. Jackie grabbed it for me and thanked him before he left. She then handed it to Mickey, who slipped it over my head and let it rest against my chest.

"Now listen very carefully," he said to me, looking me directly in the eyes. "Once you've jumped to the other dimension, it works as a teleport as well. The canon is semi telepathic. You just think of where you need to go and press the central button down twice, but quickly. Like this," he said as he tapped the back of my hand twice in rapid succession. "Got that?"

I nodded. "Press it twice very quickly and think of where I need to go," I repeated.

"Perfect. Now Jackie and I are going in… about twenty minutes, but you should go now."

"Why?"

"Because Rose is supposed to find the Doctor and if the Doctor needs anyone, it's you."

"But what about you two?"

Jackie smiled. "Don't you worry about us, sweetheart. You just find the Doctor and find my Rose. And take care yourself."

"And good luck," Mickey added.

"Thanks." I looked down at the canon hanging from around my neck by a single metal chain, cupping in my left hand while my right held onto the gun. "See you guys soon."

Closing my eyes, I pressed down once one the canon and let it pull me from one dimension to another.

* * *

I shimmered into existence back in the Doctor's universe less than a second later and immediately recoiled in shock when I found myself surrounded by chaos and fire. I had materialized in the middle of a sidewalk and cars were flying down the street just a few feet in front of me. People were screaming, fires were ablaze in shops and cars all around me, and the sky overhead was filled with the sight of alien planets all clumped together with no sign of the moon or any stars.

Suddenly, a giant saucer appeared in the sky mere yards overhead and began firing on the city around me. A cacophony of Dalek voices screaming "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" mixed with the sounds of explosions and people screaming in terror. Daleks suddenly whizzed through the air overhead, their familiar battle cry making me shiver in fear as I stumbled out of sight.

"Shit," I breathed as I clutched my gun against my chest.

Grabbing frantically at the dimension canon around my neck, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think of somewhere safe. I thought of Rose and wherever she might be at the moment and pressed the button twice, hoping it was enough to get me out of harm's way. A mere second later, I opened my eyes and found myself in the middle of someone's living room.

"Rose?" I called out hopefully.

A middle aged woman came running into the room then with Wilf right behind her. "It's you!" Wilf cried happily before rushing forward to give me a hug. "Come on, darling, Rose is waiting for you!"

Wilf led me into an adjoining room where Rose was sitting at a desk with a laptop propped up in front of her. The computer screen showed Harriet Jones and Jack Harkness, as well as Sarah Jane and her son from their home on Bannerman Road. I lifted the gun from off my shoulders and very gently placed it on the floor by the desk, out of the way so no one would trip and set it off by mistake.

"The fourth contact seems to be having some trouble getting through," Harriet said as she began typing away at her computer.

"That's us," Rose breathed. "Harriet, that's us!"

"I'll just boost the signal," Harriet told the others.

I walked over to stand beside Rose, one of my hands resting on the back of her chair, as the bottom right corner of the screen faded from black and white pixels to the image of Martha Jones in full UNIT uniform.

"Hello?" Martha called.

From his plan in the top right corner, Jack started laughing. "Martha Jones!" he said happily.

Rose wrinkled her nose in confusion. "Who's she?" she grumbled. "I want to get through."

"Martha," Jack asked, "where are you?"

Martha smiled. "I guess Project Indigo was more clever than we thought. One second I was in Manhattan, next second… Maybe Indigo tapped into my mind, because I ended up in the one place that I wanted to be," she said as her mother moved to sit next to her.

"You came home," her mother said with a smile. "At the end of the world, you came back to me."

Martha looked from her mother to the camera on her computer. "But then all of a sudden, it's like the laptop turned itself on," she explained.

"It did. That was me." Harriet raised her left hand so the camera could see the badge in her hand. "Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister."

"Yes, I know who you are," Martha chuckled.

Harriet nodded and lowered her hand. "I thought it was about time we all met, given the current crisis. Torchwood, this is Sarah Jane Smith."

Jack nodded at Sarah, who was positioned in the bottom left corner of the screen. "I've been following your work. Nice job with the Slitheen," he commented.

"Yeah, well, I've been staying away from you lot. Too many guns," Sarah countered as she nodded her head in Luke's direction.

"All the same," Jack continued, "might I say looking good, ma'am?"

"Really?" Sarah asked before making a pleased sound in the back of her throat.

Rose and I both smiled. "Same old Jack," she said to herself.

"Not now, Captain," Harriet interjected with a roll of her eyes. "And Martha Jones, former companion to the Doctor."

"Oi, so was I!" Rose exclaimed.

"They don't know you're here, Rose," I said softly. "Harriet hasn't forgotten you."

"-how did you find me?" Martha asked as her mother moved out of frame.

Harriet smiled proudly as she gestured to the computer equipment just visible around her seat. "This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Subwave Network. A sentient piece of software programmed to seek out anyone and everyone who can help to contact the Doctor."

"But what if the Daleks can hear us?" Martha wondered.

Harriet shook her head. "No, that's the beauty of the Subwave. It's undetectable."

"And you invented it?" Sarah asked, a confused expression on her face.

"I developed it. It was created by the Mister Copper Foundation."

"Yeah, but what we need right now is a weapon," Jack said. "Martha, back there at UNIT, what, what did they give you? What was that key thing?"

Lifting her hand into the camera's view, Martha revealed the object in question. "The Osterhagen key," she murmured seriously, her eyes not quite meeting the camera.

"That key is not to be used, Doctor Jones. Not under _any_ circumstances," Harriet said firmly.

"But what is an Osterhagen key?" Jack asked.

"Forget about the key, and that's an order. All we need is the Doctor."

"Only- well excuse me, Harriet," Sarah Jane interjected, "but-. Well, the thing is, if you're looking for the Doctor, didn't he depose you?"

Harriet nodded. "He did. And I've wondered about that for a long time, whether I was wrong. But I stand by my actions to this day, because I knew- I knew that one day the Earth would be in danger and the Doctor would fail to appear. I told him so myself, and he didn't listen."

"He never does," I mumbled under my breath.

"But I've been trying to find him," Martha said. "The Doctor's got my phone on the TARDIS, but I can't get through."

"Nor me," Rose sighed.

Harriet nodded in understanding. "That's why we need the Subwave," she explained. "To bring us all together. Combine forces. The Doctor's secret army."

"Wait a minute!" Jack exclaimed. "We boost the signal! That's it! We transmit that telephone number through Torchwood itself, using all the power of the Rift."

"And we've got Mister Smith!" Luke said, stepping forward a little so we could see him better. "He can link up with every telephone exchange on the Earth. He can get the whole world to call the same number, all at the same time. Billions of phones, calling out all at once."

"Brilliant," Jack praised. "Er, who's the kid?"

"That's my son," Sarah said seriously, her eyes slightly narrowed as she wrapped an arm around Luke's shoulders.

From the side of the screen, Alistair suddenly stepped into view and I gasped in surprise.

"Who's that?" Rose asked.

"I think that's _my_ son," I whispered in response.

Alistair smiled a little awkwardly at the camera. "Excuse me, Alistair Smith. Formerly with UNIT. Ma'am, if we start transmitting, then the Subwave Network is going to become visible to the Daleks," he said to Harriet. "That means the Daleks will trace it back to you and you'll be in danger.

"Yes," Harriet answered with a single nod of her head. "But my life doesn't matter. Not if it saves the Earth."

From his spot beside Alistair, Jack suddenly stood at attention and saluted Harriet. "Ma'am," he said as Alistair followed his example and saluted as well.

"Thank you, Captain, Alistair. But there are people out there dying on the streets."

"Marvelous woman," Wilf said behind us. "I voted for her."

"You did not," his daughter retorted.

"Now, enough of words," Harriet ordered. "Let's begin."

Jack and Alistair rushed past the camera and out of view. A moment later, jack shouted, "Rift power activated!"

"All terminals coordinated," I heard a woman who could only be Gwen say.

"National grid online!" Alistair shouted.

"Giving you everything we've got," I into said as he suddenly stepped into view.

Meanwhile, Sarah and Luke were working on Mister Smith. "Connecting you to Mister Smith," Sarah told Harriet.

"All telephone networks combined," Luke said as he looked up at the camera.

Martha pressed a series of buttons on her laptop and then said, "Sending you the number now."

The number 07700 900461 appeared on the computer screen, superimposed over the four boxes of video.

"Opening Subwave Network to maximum," Harriet informed us as she began typing away at her computer.

"Mister Smith, make that call," Sarah ordered.

"Calling the Doctor," Mister Smith replied.

Rose suddenly reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "So am I," she muttered.

"And… sending," Jack said as he came back into view beside Ianto. Ianto stepped away from the computer and ran out of frame as Gwen ran into frame. Jack disappeared again while he shouted, "I think we've got a fix!"

"Mister Smith now at two hundred per cent," Sarah said loudly over the sound of sparks emitting from her supercomputer. "Oh, come _on_ , Doctor."

Beside me, Rose was trying to call the Doctor on her cell phone while Wilf and Donna's mother were doing the same on their phones. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket, dialing the number that was still flashing on the screen and hoping that I reached the Doctor at the correct point in his timeline.

"Come on, Doctor," Rose breathed. "Find us."

Gwen, who was still in frame on the camera, began typing at the computer. "Harriet, a saucer's locked on to your location. They've found you," she said.

"I know," Harriet answered. "I'm using the Network to mask your transmission. Keep going."

Through her camera, I could hear a Dalek scream "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" somewhere near Harriet's location. It was only a matter of seconds before she was discovered and killed, and I had no way to stop it.

"Captain, I'm transferring the Subwave Network to Torchwood. You're in charge now. And tell the Doctor from me, he chose his companions well. It's been an honor."

"No," I muttered. "Harriet, no."

As Harriet got up to face the Daleks that were forcing their way into her home, my gaze happened to catch the dimension canon hanging around my neck. I reached down to grab it and was about to press it when Rose's hand clamped around my wrist and yanked my hand away.

" _No_ ," she said firmly. "Don't even think about it."

"But she's going to die!"

"You've had that gun for five minutes! If you go, you'll die on the spot! It's too dangerous! I'm sorry."

I looked at the computer as Harriet stared down three Daleks with her back facing the camera. "Oh, you know nothing of any human," she said, "and that will be your downfall."

The Daleks stared at her for a moment or two before shouting their infamous battlecry. The cameras went out a second later and top left corner of the screen dissolved into black and white static. Hardly five seconds later, Harriet's corner of the screen began to change from static to the image of the Doctor, Donna, and a young woman standing in the TARDIS.

"Where the hell have you been?" Jack demanded. "Doctor, it's the Daleks."

"Oh, he's a bit nice," Gwen smiled. "I thought he'd be older."

"He's not that young," Ianto countered.

"And could you please not say that about my dad?" Alistair asked with a grimace.

"It's the Daleks!" Sarah exclaimed from her corner of the screen. "They're taking people to their spaceship."

"It's not just Dalek Caan," Martha added.

"It's Donna!" her mother exclaimed behind Rose and I.

Wilf laughed in relief and clapped his hands together. "That's my girl!"

"Sarah Jane," the Doctor said with a grin, happy to see our old friend. "Who's that boy? And that must be Torchwood. Oh, they're brilliant. Look at you all, you clever people."

"That's Martha," Donna said. She leaned forward and pointed to the camera. "And who's he?"

"Captain Jack- _Don't_ ," the Doctor said quickly. "Just don't."

"Please don't," the woman standing next to the Doctor added softly. "I don't need you flirting with my ex."

Jack flashed the camera very confused expression. "Ex?" he repeated. "I think I'd remember being with someone as stunning as yourself."

"That's because I didn't look like this when we were together," the woman replied with a tiny smirk. "I'm Alistair, Jack. I regenerated."

" _What?_ " Jack, Ianto, and I exclaimed in unison.

Ianto stared wide-eyed and opened-mouthed at the camera, his gaze flicking between the Alistair with him at the Torchwood Hub and the female Alistair with the Doctor. "You're a girl now?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes. And I'd prefer it if you called me Naya instead of Alistair."

"Blimey, talk about a surprise," Rose muttered beside me. "You alright, Di?"

I nodded once as I stared at the computer screen in shock. "Yeah. Just… processing," I answered slowly.

"It's like an outer space Facebook," Donna laughed.

The Doctor's smile suddenly dropped as he stared at the camera. "Everyone except Diana and Rose," he sighed. "Where could she be?"

The computer screen suddenly went blank, black and white static replacing the camera input from the others. A voice spoke from the computer then and a chill went up my spine as soon as I heard it.

"Your voice is different, and yet its arrogance is unchanged," Davros sneered. "Welcome to my new Empire, Doctor. It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection and the triumph of Davros, lord and creator of the Dalek race." After a moment of silence, Davros appeared on the screen with his body taking up the entire space. "Have you nothing to say?"

"But you were destroyed," I could hear the Doctor say. "In the very first year of the Time War, at the Gates of Elysium. I saw your command ship fly into the jaws of the Nightmare Child. I tried to save you."

"But it took one stronger than you. Dalek Caan himself."

A crazed voice called out from the darkness behind Davros. "I flew into the wild and fire," the Dalek voice cackled. "I danced and died a thousand times!"

"Emergency Temporal Shift took him back into the Time War itself," Davros explained.

"But that's impossible," the Doctor shot back. "The entire War is time locked."

"And yet he succeeded. Oh it cost him his mind, but _imagine_. A single, simple Dalek succeeded where Emperors and Time Lords have failed. A testament, don't you think, to my remarkable creations?"

The Doctor sighed and I could almost see the distressed expression on his face. "And you made a new race of Daleks," he said in a low, serious voice.

"I gave myself to them, quite literally. Each one grown from a cell of my own body." Davis laughed manically as he opened his tunic to reveal the remains of his body. His skin and muscles were gone and left his rib bones bare to the eye with only a few thin nerves and veins wrapping around the bones. Behind the bones of his ribcage, his organs were practically on display. "New Daleks. _True_ Daleks," he continued as he closed his tunic again. "I have my children, Doctor. What do you have, now?"

"After all this time, everything we saw, everything we lost, I have only one thing to say to you," the Doctor said. There was a pause and then, " _Bye!_ "

The computer screen went dark a moment later, with no sound or static remaining. Rose jumped over to the side of the desk where she had placed her gun, strapping the weapon across her chest. She turned to me as she finished and gestured for me to do the same with my gun.

"Quickly," she ordered as she began dialing a number on her phone.

I strapped the gun across my chest, letting it rest against my thigh as I looked down at my phone. The call I had made to the Doctor had ended at some point, though I wasn't sure if I had made it though to the correct point in the Doctor's timeline or not.

"Control, I need another shift," Rose said into her phone. "Lock me and Diana onto the TARDIS, now. Have you got her? Good." Rose ended the call and stuffed her phone back into her jacket pocket. "Right, Diana, come stand by me."

"I don't understand," I said as I moved to stand next to her.

"We're going to find him. I'll explain everything else later." Looking at Donna's mother and Wilf, Rose flashed them a smile. "Wish me luck."

"Oh, good luck."

"Yeah, good luck, both of you," Wilf said with a smile.

A mere second later, blinding white light surrounded Rose and I and we vanished from the Noble home.

* * *

"Where are we?" I asked Rose after we reappeared in a new location.

"I'm not sure," she answered. "We're as close to the TARDIS as we can get. The Doctor has to be nearby."

We were standing in the middle of an empty and hastily abandoned street, cars parked in the middle with the doors wide open. There wasn't another human being or Dalek to be seen. Just a few yards ahead of us was an intersection and after Rose had checked for any signs of danger, she gestured for me to follow her. We walked to the middle of the intersection, looking in every direction for any signs of life or of the Doctor.

I knew what was going to happen next and I prayed to whatever or whoever might be listening that I could stop it. Down the street that stretch out to our left was a group of three people standing by a blue wooden box under a streetlight. The Doctor, whose back had been facing Rose and I previously, suddenly turned around and spotted us. Even though we were an entire block apart, I could feel the Doctor's eyes lock onto mine.

Almost immediately, he started running down the street in my direction. I knew that a Dalek was lurking somewhere nearby and if I wanted to keep the Doctor from being shot, I had to stop him from running to me. Rose had started running as well, heading straight for the Doctor as he he ran towards us.

"No, Rose, wait! Stop!" I called.

Rose faltered only slightly, looking over her shoulder at me in confusion as she slowed her Doctor was running even faster as he headed down the street. Rose had slowed to a walk as she looked between the Doctor and me in uncertainty.

"Doctor, stop!" I screamed desperately. " _Stop!_ "

The Time Lord didn't seem to pay any attention to my warning and just quickened his pace. I braced the gun against my thigh and started running towards him as I shouted for him to stop again. I practically flew past Rose as I continued shouting desperate warnings at the Time Lord.

"Get down!" I screamed.

"Doctor, look out!" Rose shouted behind me.

As I forced myself to slow to a walk, I turned my head to the right to see a Dalek moving out from behind an abandoned car. Its eyestalk flicked between the Doctor and I as it seemed to consider which of us to shoot first. The Doctor tried to stop running and dodge behind another car for cover, but the Dalek screamed "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" and fired at him. The left side of his body was hit by the extermination ray and he immediately fell to the ground where he lay motionless.

" _No!_ "

I shot forward again, running as fast as I could towards the Doctor. The gun was only slowing me down and in a matter of seconds, I had lifted it off my shoulder and thrown it to the ground. Skidding to a stop, I fell to my knees by the Doctor's side just a moment later.

"Doctor," I breathed, "Doctor, look at me."

His eyes fluttered open as I took his head in my hands. "Diana…?" he asked weakly.

"It's me. I'm here. It's okay. It's gonna be okay," I said in a rush.

He let out a deep groan as his eyes squeezed shut against the pain. "I-I can… feel it. It's starting."

"Dad!"

I looked up at the source of the voice and saw Alistair- _Naya_ , running towards us. She collapsed beside the Doctor and immediately put a hand on his chest. The Doctor forced a smile through the pain as he reached up to touch her cheek.

"Naya," he breathed before suddenly crying out.

Jack, Rose, and Donna ran to our sides then, with Rose and Donna immediately moving to try and help the Doctor as best they could.

"Get him into the TARDIS," Jack ordered. "Quickly!"

Naya and I struggled to get the Doctor to his feet, even with him trying to support himself on uneasy legs. Naya and I were forced to drag the Doctor back to the TARDIS after just a few paces when his legs gave out. He seemed to be fighting to stay conscious and completely collapsed as soon as we stumbled inside the TARDIS.

"What- What do we do?" Donna asked as she knelt beside the Doctor,w h was flailing and moaning painfully on the TARDIS floor. "There must be some medicine or something!"

"Just step back," Jack said. "Diana, Rose, Naya, do as I say, and get back! He's dying and you know what happens next."

Donna shook her head in confusion, looking from the Doctor to Jack. "What do you mean? He can't."

"Dad, no," Naya whispered tearfully.

"Naya, get back!" Jack said firmly as he pulled Naya back by her arm. "Rose, Diana, get _back!_ "

"No!" I snapped. I stayed by the Doctor's side and leaned over him, gently holding his face in my hand as I gazed sadly at him. "This is my fault."

"Diana, come on," Rose said with a sob as she tugged at my arm. "He needs room-"

"I know, but I'm not moving!"

"What do you mean, what happens next?" Donna shrieked, tears streaking down her face as Jack wrapped an arm comfortingly around her shoulders.

The Doctor raised his right hand and watched as it began to glow gold with regeneration energy. "It's starting," he choked.

Jack suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Rose, pulling her back before grabbing me as well and dragging me away. "Here we go," he said as he wrapped an arm around my waist to hold me back. "Good luck, Doctor."

"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" Donna demanded through her tears.

"When a Time Lord dies," Naya explained, "their body renews itself by changing. It's the only way he'll survive."

"But you can't!" Rose exclaimed.

The Doctor struggled to his feet and fell against the console, breathing heavily. "I'm sorry," he gasped. "It's too late… I'm regenerating."

 **A/N: Please please _please_ review!**


	18. Journey's End: Part 1

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but here is part one of Journey's End!**

 _"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" Donna demanded through her tears._

 _"When a Time Lord dies," Naya explained, "their body renews itself by changing. It's the only way he'll survive."_

 _"But you can't!" Rose exclaimed._

 _The Doctor struggled to his feet and fell against the console, breathing heavily. "I'm sorry," he gasped. "It's too late… I'm regenerating."_

The Doctor pushed himself off the console and threw his arms and head back as golden regeneration energy encircled his body. He stayed in that position for a few moments before suddenly turning towards us and pointing his arms at the jar containing his old hand at the base of the console. The golden glow of the regeneration energy became too bright to look at directly and I was forced to look away as the Doctor channeled the energy into his other hand. My face was buried in Jack's chest until I heard the Doctor gasp and stumble backwards on the metal grating.

Forcing myself out of Jack's arms, I started forward towards the Doctor to make sure he was alright but stopped short when I saw him. "Wh-… What the-?" I stammered in confusion as I stared in shock at the Doctor.

"Now then," he said with a grin, his voice distinctly Northern. "Where were we?"

Instead of retaining his original form, the Doctor had somehow changed appearance. Bursting through his old self's pinstripe suit was a tall, semi muscular man with familiar big ears and incredibly short hair. Seemingly unaware, or unbothered, by his change, the Doctor bounded past me to kneel beside the jar containing his hand.

"There now," he said as he blew gently on the jar, making the golden glow fade away like mist. Then he stood up and leaned casually against the console as he looked at the five of us. "You see? Used the regeneration energy to heal myself and then siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle, namely my hand. Well, I say matching. It bio-matched my previous incarnation, all ears and Northern and leather wearing, so it turned me back into him."

"What?" I asked incredulously, my eyes still locked on the simultaneously new and old face of the Doctor's.

"My hand there," he said as he looked at me. "My handy spare hand. You remember? Christmas Day, Sycorax. Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand."

" _What?_ " I repeated.

The Doctor flashed me another grin and wiggled his eyebrows. "What do you think?"

"But you're…" The Doctor nodded at me, still grinning. "You're…"

"Yep."

"But that's not… You're not… That's not supposed to happen!" I exclaimed.

"I know. Fantastic, isn't it?"

I shook my head. "No, you don't understand. It's _literally_ impossible. I've seen a future you, a you past this point in your timeline, and you still had your old face. I mean, your previous face. Er, I-I mean-"

The Doctor shrugged before interjecting, "Time's always in flux, changing, bending, being reshaped and rewritten. This regeneration was most likely a fixed point, but still able to be changed just slightly. Able to be changed enough for me to look like this now."

"Doctor?" Rose breathed from behind me.

I had completely forgotten about the others until then, so I turned around to look at Rose. She and Jack looked as if they had seen a ghost, Naya was shocked into silence, and Donna was so confused that all she could do was gape at the new Doctor.

"Doctor? Is that really you?" Rose asked again.

The Doctor smiled and nodded. "It's me, Rose."

"But… I never thought I'd see you again."

"Well," the Time Lord added after a moment, a slightly embarrassed expression on his face, "it's not _exactly_ me. I look like the old me and I sound like him, but it's not his personality in here. Well, not all of it anyway. I figure he might pop out every now and again. It's Mr Suit and Converse, both of which I see no longer fit me," he added as he looked down at his body.

The TARDIS let out a gentle whirr and flashed her lights. Just a few moments later, a small stack of clothes and a pair of new shoes materialized on top of the console. The Doctor laughed and reached over to grab the items off of the console.

"Oh, look at these. It's been years," he said with a smile.

Almost immediately, the Doctor toed off his converse and began working at his clothes to take them off as well. Naya squeaked in surprise and turned around so her back was facing the Doctor, one of her hands covering her eyes as well. With her free hand she made Donna turn around and face the opposite side of the console room. Rose cleared her throat a little awkwardly and turned around with her eyes wide and her cheeks tinted pink. Still mostly surprised by what had just happened, I slowly turned around to face the others and spotted Jack staring unashamedly at the Doctor.

"Jack, aren't you gonna turn around?" I asked.

He scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "As if."

Naya immediately reached out and grabbed Jack by his arm, quickly turning him around before slapping the back of his head. Jack grimaced and rubbed the back of his head after Naya slapped him, but didn't turn around again. After a few long moments of silence, I glanced cautiously over my shoulder to see if the Doctor had finished dressing yet and was met with the image of him in just his black pants and shoes. I was frozen in surprise as he pulled a burgundy jumper over his head and quickly turned around before he could see me looking. Jack had been watching as well apparently and winked at me before turning his head away again, making my entire face flush.

Just a few seconds later, the lights in the TARDIS suddenly went out and the ship let out a groan before going completely silent. I immediately spun around to face the console and looked up at the time rotor to see that it was no longer lit up from the inside. The Doctor had just finished pulling his old leather jacket on as he raced around the console in a panic.

"The power's gone," he said. "We're in some kind of… chronon loop."

"A time loop?" I asked.

Before he could answer, the TARDIS suddenly jerked to one side and sent us all stumbling across the room. The TARDIS jerked again, this time to the other side, and then moved as if it were blasting off. The Doctor grabbed onto the console for support while Rose and Donna clung to Jack, who was leaning against one of the coral support beams. Naya and I were holding onto the railings encircling the edge of the metal grating. After a few moments, the ship stopped shaking so much and I was able to stand without the support of the railings.

"Doctor?" Donna asked, stepping away from Jack's side to approach the Time Lord. "What's happening?"

The Doctor rushed over to the scanner and peered at the screen. "We're being moved somewhere…," he muttered.

"There's a massive Dalek ship at the centre of the planets," Jack said. "They're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination."

"Doctor, you said these planets were like an engine," Donna said. "But what for?"

The Doctor stood and ran a hand through his hair as he looked at the scanner, lost in thought. Then he suddenly gasped and gestured to Rose. "Rose! You've been in a parallel world. That world's running ahead of this universe. You've seen the future," he said excitedly. "What was it?"

Rose looked sadly at the Doctor. "It's the darkness," she answered seriously.

"The stars were going out," Donna said.

Rose nodded. "One by one," she continued. "We looked up at the sky and they were just dying. Basically, we've been building this- this travel machine, this dimension canon so I could come back and warn you. And suddenly it started to work and the dimensions started to collapse. Not just in our world, not just in yours, but the whole of reality. Even the Void was dead. Something is destroying everything."

"But in that parallel world, you said something about me," Donna interjected.

Rose turned so she could properly look at Donna. "The dimension canon could measure timelines, and it's- it's weird, Donna, but they all seemed to converge on you."

Donna shook her head in confusion. "But why me? I mean, what have I ever done? I'm a _temp_ from _Chiswick_."

The scanner started beeping then and the Doctor turned to look at the image that had appeared on the screen. It was some kind of map of all the planets that had been taken out of time and at the center of the planets was a red dot flashing on and off.

"The Dalek Crucible," the Doctor muttered. "All aboard."

I stepped forward so I was standing beside the Doctor and slowly reached out to take his hand. He looked down at me and the serious, worried expression on his face faded a little when our eyes met.

"Hey," I said softly.

The Doctor sighed heavily and searched my eyes for a few moments before suddenly pulling me into his arms. I squeaked in surprise and stood awkwardly in his embrace for a second before relaxing and returning the hug. I buried my head in his chest and closed my eyes, letting the threat of the Daleks and Davros fade away for just a minute while I was safe with the Doctor.

After he pulled away, the Doctor looked past me at Naya. He didn't say a word, but extended his arm towards her and she immediately ran to him. Her arms wrapped around his torso as the Doctor rested his chin on the crown of her head. He closed his eyes and pressed a light kiss to her head before tightening his arms around her.

The TARDIS landed very suddenly and the Doctor and Naya pulled apart in surprise. The Doctor turned to face the TARDIS doors as if he anticipated something or someone to burst through and into the ship.

"THE TAR-DIS IS SE-CURED!" a Dalek exclaimed from somewhere outside the ship.

The Doctor reached for my hand and pulled me closer to him, then put his other arm around Naya's shoulders.

"DOC-TOR," another Dalek ordered in a deep voice, "YOU WILL STEP FORTH OR DIE!"

"We have to go out," the Doctor said. "Because if we don't, they'll get in."

"You told me nothing could get through those doors," Rose replied.

Jack nodded and said, "You've got extrapolator shielding."

The Doctor moved his arm from Naya's shoulders and turned to look from the door to Rose, then to Jack. "Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers and hybrids and mad. But this is a fully fledged Dalek Empire at the height of its power. Experts at fighting TARDISes, they can do anything. Right now, that wooden door is just wood."

Jack turned to Rose. "What about your dimension jump?" he asked.

"It needs another twenty minutes. And anyway, I'm not leaving."

"What about your teleport?" the Doctor asked Jack.

"Went down with the power loss," he answered.

"Wait, your vortex manipulator went out?" I asked.

Jack nodded. "I don't know how, but they managed to take it out too. So unless your teleport is up and running, we're stuck here."

Rose shook her head. "Hers is just like mine. It needs to recharge."

"Naya, what about you?" the Doctor asked as he looked to our daughter. "Do you have anything? A vortex manipulator, a time ring, teleport, _anything_?"

Naya shook her head, a few strands of her dark black hair falling across her face. "No. I'm sorry."

The Doctor sighed. "Right then. All of us together." He looked to each of his companions, smiling first at me and then Naya, then Rose and Jack. But when he looked to Donna, he saw that she was staring blankly at the console. "Donna?"

The Doctor stepped past myself, Rose, and Jack and stood in front of Donna. He called her name again, which finally brought her out of her trance. "Yeah?" she asked, slightly confused.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said. "There's nothing else we can do."

Donna smiled sadly and nodded in understanding. "No, I know."

The Doctor returned her smile and gently ran his hand along her upper arm in an attempt to comfort her. He nodded and then walked back to stand beside Naya and I.

"SURR-ENDER, DOC-TOR, AND FACE YOUR DA-LEK MAS-TERS!" a Dalek ordered from outside.

"CRU-CI-BILE ON MAX-I-MUM A-LERT!" another Dalek screamed.

"Daleks," Rose breathed in almost disbelief, laughing a little as if the idea didn't absolutely terrify her.

"Oh, God," Jack added in a silly voice, making Naya and I laugh as well.

The Doctor looked at Jack, then Donna, Rose, Naya, and myself, and smiled. "It's been good though, hasn't it? All of us. All of it. Everything we did." He looked at Donna and nodded. "You were brilliant. And you were brilliant," he said as he looked to Jack. "And you were brilliant," he continued as he glanced at Rose.

Next he looked to Naya and took her face in his hands, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "And you were brilliant." Finally he turned to me and, as he cupped my face in his hands, he smiled sadly at me. "And you were absolutely fantastic," he said before pulling me into a gentle kiss.

The Doctor smoothed his thumb across my cheek before finally pulling away from me. He turned to face the TARDIS doors and, after a moment of hesitation, started forward. I walked after him and grabbed his hand. Behind me, I could hear the others following us down the ramp to the doors.

As soon as the Doctor opened the door, the echoing shrieking of countless Daleks bombarded my ears and I flinched. The Doctor released my hand and put his arm around my shoulders to comfort me as I recoiled against him. The TARDIS was parked in some kind of control room and half of the room opened up to a large, empty space where hundreds of Daleks were flying through the hair and screaming.

"DA-LEKS REIGN SU-PREME! ALL HAIL THE DA-LEKS!" announced a large, red Dalek that stood nearby the ship.

"DA-LEKS REGIN SU-PREME! ALL HAIL THE DA-LEKS!" the others echoed. "DA-LEKS REIGN SU-PREME! ALL HAIL THE DA-LEKS!"

"BE-HOLD, DOC-TOR!" the red Dalek said. "BE-HOLD THE MIGHT OF THE TRUE DA-LEK RACE."

The Doctor looked over my head at the others and when he noticed that Donna and Naya were still inside the TARDIS, he called out to them. "Donna, Naya! You're no safer in there," he said.

Barely a moment later, the TARDIS door suddenly slammed shut, locking Donna and my daughter inside. Even though I'd known it would happen and that Donna would be safe in the end, realizing that Naya was stuck inside the TARDIS made me start to worry. The Doctor rushed towards the TARDIS and pulled hard on the doors, but they didn't budge.

"Doctor?" Donna called from inside the ship. "What have you done?"

"It wasn't me!" the Doctor exclaimed. "I didn't do anything!"

"Dad? _Dad!_ " Naya shouted. "Mum! Let us out! We're not staying behind!"

Once he realized that he couldn't open the doors, the Doctor turned and ran up to the red Dalek with rage burning in his eyes. " _What did you do?_ " he demanded.

"THIS IS NOT OF DA-LEK OR-I-GIN," the red Dalek answered.

"Dad, let us out!" Naya shouted angrily. "You can't just lock us in here!"

"Stop it!" the Doctor snarled at the red Dalek. "That's my friend and my daughter in there. Now open the door and let them out. _Now!_ "

"THIS IS TIME LORD TREA-CHER-Y!"

"It's not _me!_ I wouldn't lock my own daughter in there!"

"NEVER-THE-LESS, THE TAR-DIS IS A WEAPON AND IT WILL BE DE-STROYED!" the Dalek exclaimed.

A trapdoor situated underneath the TARDIS suddenly opened and the ship fell through the hole in the floor. The Doctor cried out and rushed to the edge of the trapdoor with me right on his heels. We both looked over the edge of the hole and I felt a wave of dizziness overwhelm me as I saw how far the drop went. Jack came up behind me then and drew me back with both of his arms around me, bringing me a safe distance from the trapdoor.

"What are you doing? Bring it back!" the Doctor screamed. He flew past Jack, Rose, and I and stopped right in front of the red Dalek. "What have you done? _Where's it going?_ "

"THE CRU-CI-BLE HAS A HEART OF Z NEU-TRI-NO EN-ER-GY. THE TAR-DIS WILL BE DE-POS-IT-ED IN-TO THE CORE!"

The Doctor's face grew visibly pale. "You can't," he breathed. "You've taken the defenses down. It'll be torn apart!"

A screen above the red Dalek suddenly crackled to life and an image of the TARDIS falling into an enormous ball of fire appeared. The TARDIS let out a wail and floated on the surface of the core for a few seconds before she began to slowly sink.

"But Donna's still in there!" Rose exclaimed as she marched towards the red Dalek.

"And Naya!" Jack shouted and followed after Rose, releasing his hold on me. "Let them go!"

I was still frozen in shock as I gazed up at the screen, wondering if my daughter was really going to be okay.

"THE FE-MALES AND THE TAR-DIS WILL PER-ISH TO-GE-THER. OB-SERVE!" The red Dalek seemed to be mocking the Doctor when it spoke again. "THE LAST CHILD OF GALL-I-FREY IS POW-ER-LESS!"

"Please, _please_!" the Doctor said desperately. "I'm begging you. I'll do anything! Put me in their place! You can do anything to me, I don't _care_ , just get my daughter out of there!"

"YOU ARE CO-NNEC-TED TO THE TAR-DIS," the Dalek said. "NOW FEEL IT DIE, DOC-TOR!"

Placed at some sort of console beside the red Dalek, a normal Dalek stood and began a count down. "TO-TAL TAR-DIS DE-STRUC-TION IN TEN RELS."

The Doctor was shaking with rage and sorrow as he stared up at the screen and my heart broke. I snapped out of the haze I was in and ran to his side, taking his hand in mine. His hand was clasped so hard around mine that I could almost feel bruises forming as each second passed.

"Please," he breathed as tears began to streak down his cheeks. He turned and looked at the red Dalek. " _Please!_ I'll do anything, _anything_ , just save them! _Please, that's my daughter!_ "

The Dalek continued the countdown without any hesitation. "FIVE, FOUR THREE, TWO, ONE!"

"THE TAR-DIS HAS BEEN DE-STROYED!" the red Dalek exclaimed. "NOW TELL ME, DOC-TOR. WHAT DO YOU FEEL? AN-GER? SOR-ROW? DE-SPAIR?"

The Doctor's face was contorted with burning rage as he transformed into the Oncoming Storm. He whirled around on the Daleks, his mouth curled into a sneer as he marched towards the red Dalek. "I've already lost one daughter, Dalek, and now you've killed my second daughter and my best friend _right in front of me_. If you think you're going to survive this, then _think again!_ "

"IF E-MO-TIONS ARE SO IM-POR-TANT, SURE-LY WE HAVE EN-HANCED YOU?"

Jack leapt forward with hatred burning in his eyes. "Yeah? Feel this!" he shouted as he pulled out a gun from his coat and began firing at the red Dalek.

"Jack, no!" I shouted. The red Dalek screamed its battle cry and fired at Jack before I could do anything to stop him. " _No!_ "

Rose cried out in horror and flew to Jack's side, falling to her knees beside his dead body. Despite knowing that Jack would be alright, I was still worried for him and hurried over to kneel on Jack's other side.

Rose gasped as she leaned over her friend's body. "Jack," she breathed. "Oh my God. Oh no."

The Doctor walked over to Rose and put his on her shoulders, trying to pull her to her feet. "Rose," he began softly, "come here. Leave him."

"But they killed him," she replied, still in shock.

"I know. I'm sorry," the Doctor said as he wrapped his arms around her. "Diana, please, come here."

"ES-CORT THEM TO THE VAULT!" the red Dalek ordered.

I leaned down and kissed Jack's cheek, unsure of whether or not he had been resurrected yet or not. "I'm sorry," I whispered before I finally stood up and walked to the Doctor's side.

The Doctor guided Rose to stand in front of him as two other Daleks moved on either side of us. They began to urge us forward, towards a large doorway. The Doctor put a hand on Rose's shoulder. "There's nothing we can do, Rose."

"But we can't just leave him!" she cried.

"I'm sorry, but we have to."

"THEY ARE THE PLAY-THINGS OF DAV-ROS NOW!" the red Dalek exclaimed as the other two Daleks led us away.

* * *

Once we had been guided into a new room several floors down from where we had forcibly left Jack, the Daleks made the three of us stand in a line. The Doctor stood on my right and Rose stood on my left, both of them hardly more than a a yard or two away from me. Rolling out from the shadows, Davros appeared with a pleased expression on his face. He pointed to us and ordered, "Activate the holding cells."

From somewhere above me, a single beam of light shone down and surrounded me completely. I immediately reached out and my hand was stopped from moving beyond the light by an invisible barrier. The barrier seemed to ripple and move slightly when I touched it, but I knew there was no way I could get past it.

Davros nodded in approval. "Excellent. Even when powerless, a Time Lord is best contained."

The Doctor smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest. I knew he was hiding all of his anger and pain at Naya's apparent death behind a facade of arrogance and humor. "Still scared of me, then?"

"It is time we talked, Doctor. After so very long."

"No, no, no, no, no," the Doctor replied as he shook his head and laughed. "We're not doing the nostalgia tour. No, I want to know what's happening right here, right now, because the Supreme Dalek said Vault. Right? As in… dungeon, cellar, prison." The Doctor smiled knowingly at his enemy. "You're not in charge of the Daleks, are you? They've got you locked away down here in the basement like, what, a servant? Slave? Court jester?"

"We have… an arrangement," Davros explained.

"No, I've got the word. You're the Dalek's _pet!_ " the Doctor mocked. "The old, annoying, useless pet that they're forced to look after."

"So very full of fire, is he not?" Davros asked as he ignored the Doctor in favor of addressing Rose and I. He looked at Rose next with a smile. "And to think you crossed entire universes, striding parallel to parallel to find him again."

"Leave her alone," the Doctor hissed.

"She is mine to do as I please," Davros replied.

Rose raised an eyebrow at the Dalek creator. "Then why am I still alive?" she wondered.

"You must be here. It was foretold. Even the Supreme Dalek would not dare to contradict the prophecies of Dalek Caan."

Across the room, another light of some kind flashed on and shone down on the remains of an exposed Dalek inside a half destroyed Dalek shell. "So cold and dark," Caan cried. "Fire is coming! The endless flames!"

"What is that thing?" Rose asked with a grimace.

The Doctor sighed. "You've met before. The last of the Cult of Skaro. But it flew into the Time War, unprotected."

"Caan did more than that," Davros explained. "He saw time. Its infinite complexity and majesty, raging through his mind. And he saw you. All three of you."

"This I have foreseen, in the wild and the wind," Caan cackled maniacally. "The Doctor will be here as witness, at the end of everything. The Doctor and his precious Children of Time." Can began laughing then, sounding even more insane than the first time he had laughed. "And one of them will die!"

"Was it you, Caan?" The Doctor sneered, his eyes burning with rage and his hand shaking. "Did you kill Naya? Donna? Why did the TARDIS door close? _Tell me!_ "

"Oh, that's it!" Davros exclaimed, chuckling in amusement under his breath. "The anger, the fire, the _rage_ of a Time Lord who butchered millions. There he is." The Doctor had fallen silent as soon as Davros spoke, but I could see that he was immediately ashamed of what he surely felt was the truth. "Why so shy? Show your companion, your wife. Show them your true self. Dalek Caan has promised me that too."

"I have seen! At the time of ending, the Doctor's soul will be revealed," Caan said while he continued to laugh hysterically.

"Yeah and you know what you'll find?" I snapped, my anger and frustration with Davros finally too great to be held in. "The soul of a man who would give his life for the whole universe. Yes he's killed people, but he's also saved worlds and universes and countless lives."

Davros laughed mockingly at me. "And here she comes, the Doctor's savior, the Wolf of Time, the Rage of the Vortex, ready to defend her husband until the very end."

"Damn right I'll defend him. It's called marriage," I retorted, choosing to ignore the titles Davros had addressed me with.

"You defend this disgrace of a Time Lord with hands so bloodstained that he can never be clean? How utterly human," Davros sneered.

"Human and proud of it. You don't know the Doctor, not like I know him. He's not evil or bloodstained or anything else you might think. He's a hero-"

" _A hero?_ " Davros interjected, his voice laced with disbelief. "You call this murderer a _hero?_ "

"Yes!" I shouted. "Because he is!"

"Then you know nothing of your husband, Diana Scott. If I were to release the Doctor now, he would spare no time in murdering me for the death of his daughter."

" _Our_ daughter," I snapped. "Naya's _our_ daughter."

"And she is dead. Because of me."

I fisted my hands at my sides, resisting the urge to somehow barge through the holding cell and punch Davros in the face. He was taunting us with Naya's death, knowing that he could fuel the Doctor's anger with it, as well as mine. Even though I knew that Donna and Naya would be safe, I still couldn't stop worrying that maybe something would go wrong and my daughter was really dead.

"Stop it," Rose demanded. "Leave them alone! Do you hear me?"

"Silence!" Davros ordered. "Do not dare to order me around. I will destroy you if necessary, prophecy or not." He suddenly turned to the Doctor then. "The ending approaches, Doctor. The testing begins."

The Doctor furrowed his brows in confusion. "The testing of what?"

Davros gestured to the ceiling, where another screen appeared. "The reality bomb," he said. "Supreme Dalek, begin testing!"

On the screen, the red Dalek appeared and began shouting orders. "TES-TING CAL-I-BRA-TION OF RE-AL-I-TY BOMB! FIRING IN TEN RELS! NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN-"

Davros flicked a switch on the console placed around his torso. "Behold, Doctor. The apotheosis of my genius," he sad proudly.

As soon as the switch had been thrown, the screen split in half to show the red Dalek continuing the countdown on one and a large room filled with humans on the other. The second screen displayed the image of what I guessed was some kind of holding area for the humans that the Daleks had captured. A group of Daleks surrounded the people and had corralled them so they were standing under a large device hanging from the ceiling, a device which I didn't recognize but I knew was some part of the reality bomb.

"-THREE, TWO, ONE, ZERO. ACT-I-VATE PLAN-ETARY A-LIGN-MENT FIELD!" the red Dalek commanded.

The Doctor gasped and shook his head. "That's Z-neutrino energy, flattened by the alignment of the planets into a single string." He turned towards Davros and pressed his hands against the barrier. "No, Davros. Davros, you can't! _You can't!_ "

"What?" Rose cried in confusion. "Doctor, what's happening?"

The device hanging above the group of people began to whir and glow bright green. The people all cried out and then were suddenly silenced as their bodies disintegrated into dust. The entire group, which was probably no more than twenty or thirty, had completely disintegrated and disappeared in less than five seconds.

"Doctor," Rose asked slowly, "what happened?"

"Electrical energy, Miss Tyler," Davros answered. "Every atom in existence is bound by an electrical field. The reality bomb cancels it out. Structure falls apart. That test was focused on the prisoners alone. Full transmission will dissolve every form of matter."

"The stars are going out," Rose whispered in realization.

The Doctor stared wide-eyed at Davros. "The twenty seven planets. They become one vast transmitter, blasting that wavelength," he said as he began to piece together Davros' plan.

Davros grinned. "Across the entire universe. Never stopping, never faltering, never fading. People and planets and stars will become dust, and the dust will become atoms, and the atoms will become nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, every single corner of creation!" he cried. "This is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!"

Still displayed on one of the two screens overhead, the red Dalek began shouting orders. "PRE-PARE FOR UNI-VER-SAL DE-TON-A-TION! THE FLEET WILL GA-THER AT THE CRU-CI-BLE! ALL DA-LEKS WILL RE-TURN TO SHEL-TER FROM THE CAT-A-CLY-SM. WE WILL BE-COME THE ONLY LIFE FORMS IN EX-IS-TENCE!"

A few moments later, one of the screens that had reverted to black and white static suddenly came alive. The face of Martha Jones appeared on the screen; she was dressed in a UNIT uniform and a determined expression was on her face.

"This message is for the Dalek Crucible. Repeat. Can you hear me?"

"Put me through!" the Doctor demanded.

Davros looked up at the screen with a pleased expression. "It begins as Dalek Caan foretold."

"The Children of Time will gather," Caan cackled maniacally, "and one of them will die!"

"Stop saying that!" the Doctor snapped. " _Put me through!_ "

"Diana!" Martha exclaimed in surprise a moment later. "Where's the Doctor?"

"I'm right here!" the Doctor said in frustration. "Martha, it's me! I regenerated."

I nodded in confirmation as I looked up at the screen. "It's him," I said simply.

Martha was silent for a few seconds as she processed the Doctor's physical change. And then, as if a switch had gone off in her head, she was back to business. "Doctor, Diana, I'm sorry," she said sadly. "I had to."

"Oh, but your friends are powerless," Davros interjected as he rolled forward into view. "My prisoners. State your intent."

Martha raised her hand. "I've got the Osterhagen Key. Leave this planet and its people alone or I'll use it," she threatened.

"Osterhagen what?" the Doctor echoed. "What's an Osterhagen Key?"

"It's a bomb," I whispered.

" _What?_ "

"There's a chain of twenty five nuclear warheads placed in strategic points beneath the Earth's crust," Martha explained. "If I use the key, they detonate and the Earth gets ripped apart."

"Wha- Who invented that? Martha, are you _insane?_ "

"The Osterhagen Key is to be used if the suffering of the human race is so great, so without hope, that this becomes the final option."

"That's never an option."

"Don't argue with me, Doctor!" Martha snapped. "Because it's _more_ than that. Now, I reckon the Daleks need these twenty seven planets for something. But what if it becomes twenty six? What happens then? Daleks? Would you risk it?"

Beside me, Rose grinned and pointed at the screen as she glanced at the Doctor and I. "Oh, she's good."

"Who's that?" Martha asked, momentarily distracted by the blonde woman.

"My name's Rose. Rose Tyler."

Martha gasped, then smiled. "You're Rose? You came back?"

Rose nodded. "All the way from another universe," she said as she flashed the other woman her famous tongue in teeth grin.

The screen beside Martha's suddenly crackled to life and an image of Jack, Sarah Jane, Jackie, and Mickey appeared. Jack was standing at the front of the group and holding a long, golden chain with the warp star encased in a small container at the base of the chain. The warp star was hooked up with a half a dozen other electrical wires of varying colors that all led somewhere off the screen.

"Captain Jack Harkness, calling all Dalek boys and girls," Jack said. "Are you receiving me? Don't send in your goons, or I'll set this thing off!"

"He's still alive!" Rose exclaimed happily. Her smile dropped, however, when she spotted Jackie and Mickey right behind Jack. "Oh my god, and that- that's my mum. She got caught."

"And Mickey- Captain, what are you doing?" the Doctor asked in a rush.

Jack sighed. "I've got a warp star wired into the mainframe. I break this shell, the entire Crucible goes up."

"Don't you dare," the Doctor hissed. "But… Where did you even _get_ a warp star?"

"From me," Sarah Jane said as she stepped forward to stand just beside Jack. "We had no choice. We saw what happened to the prisoners."

"Impossible," Davros breathed in surprise as he looked up at Sarah's face on the screen. "That face. After all these years."

Sarah's face fell as she stared at Davros in shock. "Davros. It's been quite a while. Sarah Jane Smith," she snapped. " _Remember?_ "

Davros chuckled. "Oh, this is meant to be. The circle of time is closing. You were there on Skaro at the very beginning of my creation," he told Sarah.

"And I've learnt how to fight since then," the journalist snapped in reply. "You let the Doctor and his friends go or this warp star? It gets opened."

"I'll do it," Jack said as he prepared to pull the star from its shell. "Don't imagine I wouldn't."

Rose smiled proudly. "Now that's what I call a ransom," she beamed as she turned to look at the Doctor. But the Doctor wasn't smiling and he looked as if he was close to tears. "Doctor?"

"Theta?" I asked softly. "What's wrong?"

"And the prophecy unfolds," Davros said.

"The Doctor's soul is revealed!" Caan exclaimed. "See him! See the heart of him!"

Davros moved so he was no more than a few feet away from the Doctor. "The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun," the Dalek creator taunted. "But this is the truth, Doctor. You take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your Children of Time, transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this."

"Stop it," I snapped. "Leave him alone."

The Doctor swallowed as a pained expression came over his face. "They're trying to help," he said in a shaky voice.

"Already I have seen them sacrifice today for their beloved Doctor," Davros continued. "The Earth woman who fell opening the Subwave Network."

"Who was that?" the Doctor questioned in confusion.

"Harriet Jones," I told him. "The Daleks killed her."

"How many more?" Davros asked as he inched closer to the Doctor. "Just think. How many have died in your name?"

The Doctor looked visibly sick and I knew that he was reliving the death of every person he had ever met and lost. Tears came to my eyes as I watched the Doctor's facade fall away and be replaced with sorrow and guilt.

"The Doctor," Davros continued, "the man who keeps running, never looking back because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you yourself."

"Stop it," I spat. "Shut up. Just shut up and leave him alone!"

"I speak only the truth, Doctor!"

"This isn't the Doctor! This isn't who he is!" I shouted. "Just leave him alone! Just _stop!_ "

"Your hands are as bloodstained as his," Davros sneered as he turned on me. "There is a reason that you are called the Rage of the Vortex, Miss Scott."

"Stop it," I said.

"There is a reason you are called the Wolf of Time. Because you are a killer, as despicable as the Time Lord that you have bound yourself to!"

" _Leave her alone!_ " the Doctor shouted.

Martha's voice suddenly sounded through the vault. "All of you, stop it! You, Davros!" she said as she lifted the Osterhagen Key into view once again. "It's the Crucible or the Earth."

Davros merely looked across there room to one of the Daleks standing by a console. At the sudden look, the Dalek exclaimed, "TRANS-MAT EN-GAGED!"

"No!" Martha screamed as she was suddenly teleported away from wherever she had previously been on Earth.

 **A/N: Don't forget to review!**


	19. Journey's End: Part 2

_Martha's voice suddenly sounded through the vault. "All of you, stop it! You, Davros!" she said as she lifted the Osterhagen Key into view once again. "It's the Crucible or the Earth."_

 _Davros merely looked across there room to one of the Daleks standing by a console. At the sudden look, the Dalek exclaimed, "TRANS-MAT EN-GAGED!"_

 _"No!" Martha screamed as she was suddenly teleported away from wherever she had previously been on Earth._

On the other screen, Jack, Mickey, Sarah, and Jackie all disappeared as well and the warp star fell to the ground. Seconds later, all five of my friends appeared inside the vault. Martha stumbled and fell to her knees, and Jack immediately ran to her side to help her up. The others had fallen as well and were struggling to their feet, Sarah having the most difficult time since she had fallen a little harder than the others. I instinctively lunged forward to try and help her, but the barrier around me pushed me back before I had moved more than a few inches.

"Don't move, all of you!" the Doctor ordered. "Stay still!"

"Sarah!" I exclaimed. "Jack, all of you. Are you okay? Is everyone okay?"

"Silence!" Davros ordered as he advanced on the group. "On your knees, all of you! Surrender!"

"Do as he says," the Doctor instructed. "Don't fight him. Just do as he says."

Slowly and begrudgingly, each of my friends lowered themselves to their knees and placed their hands behind their heads. Jackie was first, kneeling beside her daughter as Sarah and Martha followed her example. Jack and Mickey were the last ones to go to their knees in surrender, although the expressions on their faces told me that they'd be ambushing each and every Dalek in the vault if they could.

Davros began laughing again, a proud and pleased smile on his face as he turned back to the Doctor. "The final prophecy is in place. The Doctor, the Wolf, and their children, all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek, the time has come. Now, detonate the Reality bomb!"

The two screens that hung overhead were still there, except one was void of anything except black and white static while the other showed an image of the red Dalek. "AC-TI-VATE PLAN-ET-ARY A-LIGN-MENT FIELD! U-NI-VER-SAL RE-AL-I-TY DE-TON-A-TION IN TWO HUN-DRED RELS!" it ordered.

"You can't!" the Doctor shouted. "Davros, listen to me! Stop, just stop!"

Davros laughed maniacally as he shook his head. "Nothing can stop the detonation. Nothing and no one!"

All of a sudden, the beautiful sound of the TARDIS materializing began to echo throughout the vault. Across the room the ship began to materialize, making everyone both Dalek and human alike turn towards it.

The Doctor's mouth fell open. "But that's-."

"Impossible," Davros said in astonishment.

As soon as the ship finished materializing, the doors opened and another Doctor appeared in the open doorway. He stood there for a minute as the bright light from inside the TARDIS faded, allowing me to see him better, until he suddenly burst out of the ship. The other Doctor ran from the TARDIS towards Davros, some sort of device clutched in his hands and aimed at the Dalek creator.

"No, don't!" the Doctor shouted to his counterpart.

Davros lifted his hand and pointed at the metacrisis Doctor, a bolt of electricity firing from his finger and hitting the Doctor right in the middle of the chest. I cried out and tried to run to his side, but the barrier around me pushed me back once more and left me completely unable to help. The other Doctor stumbled back a few steps before he finally fell to the floor, the device falling out of his hands.

"Activate holding cell!" Davros ordered.

The other Doctor was immediately surrounded by a beam of light identical to the ones Rose, myself, and the Doctor were trapped by. Just then, Donna and Naya stepped out of the TARDIS. Naya bolted across the room and skidded to a halt seconds later as she bent over to pick up the device the metacrisis Doctor had dropped. She looked over it for a second and then suddenly aimed it at Davros, who raised his hand again to shoot her with electricity.

"Naya, no!" I screamed.

Donna suddenly ran up behind Naya and pushed my daughter to the side and out of the way of Davros' energy blast. As a result, she was hit in the chest with the electricity and her body was thrown through the air from the force of the blast.

"Donna!" Naya and I shouted in unison.

Donna had been thrown back against some kind of console near the TARDIS and seemed to be unconscious. Naya had dropped the device after Donna pushed her aside and, after looking worriedly at Donna for a moment, she suddenly picked the device back up and aimed it at Davros. Davros, however, wasn't phased by her threat and pointed his hand at the Doctor instead.

"Choose wisely, girl. Lower your weapon or the Time Lord dies."

"You wouldn't," Naya said.

"Drop your weapon or your father dies! Drop it!"

Naya looked at the Doctor and her eyes asked a silent question. We all knew that if she did nothing the entire universe would be destroyed, but Naya didn't seem able to let the Doctor be killed because of her. A moment later, she dropped the device and stepped back.

"Naya, no!" the Doctor shouted.

"Destroy the weapon," Davros ordered. A Dalek standing beside him immediately followed the order and Davros looked to the Doctor afterwards with a smile. "I was wrong about your warriors, Doctor. They are pathetic."

"Wait a minute, Doctor," Rose interjected, "how come there are two of you?"

The Doctor looked to his counterpart. "Human biological metacrisis," he said. "But it doesn't matter. We've got no way of stopping the reality bomb now."

"DE-TON-A-TION IN TWEN-TY RELS!" one of the Daleks shouted.

"Stand witness, Time Lord," Davros said as he pushed a button on his console, making one of the screens flare to life with an image of the planets all glowing. "Stand witness, humans. Your strategies have failed, your weapons are useless, and- Oh. The end of the universe has come."

"NINE, EIGHT, SE-VEN, SIX, FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE!"

However, when the countdown finished, an alarm began to sound in the vault and the screen vanished.

"Mmm, closing all Z-neutrino relay loops using an internalized synchronous back-feed reversal loop," Donna said from her spot behind the console, a grin on her face. Everyone turned to her in surprise while she just smiled. She pointed to a spot on the console and laughed. "That button there."

"SYS-TEM IN SHUT-DOWN!" one Dalek exclaimed.

"DE-TON-A-TION NEG-A-TIVE," another said.

"EX-PLAIN! EX-PLAIN! EX-PLAIN!"

"Donna, you can't even change a plug," the Doctor said in surprise.

Donna grinned. "Do you want to bet, Time Boy?"

"You will suffer for this!" Davros exclaimed, raising his hand to electrocute Donna again.

Immediately, Donna flipped a lever on the console and the electricity in Davros' hand short circuited and electrocuted himself instead. "Oh, bio-electric dampening field with a retrograde field arc inversion," Donna explained casually.

"Exterminate her!" Davros ordered to the other Daleks.

"No!" Naya exclaimed. "Donna, run!"

Donna's hands were flying across the console as a group of Daleks closed in on her, shouting their battlecry. The Daleks suddenly stopped and fell silent as Donna flipped her hair over her shoulder with a flourish.

"WEA-PONS NON-FUNC-TION-AL!"

Donna smirked. "Macrotransmission of a K-filter wavelength blocking Dalek weaponry in a self-replicating energy blindfold matrix," she said quickly as she winked at me.

The Doctor shook his head in confusion. "How did you work that out?"

"She's part Time Lord," the metacrisis Doctor said.

"Part human," Donna finished. "Oh, yes. That was a two-way biological metacrisis. Half Doctor, half Donna."

"Just like the Ood said," the Doctor breathed in realization. "They saw it coming. The Doctor Donna."

"Holding cells deactivated," Donna announced as she continued working at the console. The light barriers around the Doctor, Rose, myself, and the new Doctor all dropped. "And… seal the Vault!"

The two Doctors were frozen, staring open mouthed at Donna as she worked the controls. Donna looked up and raised her eyebrows expectantly at the two Time Lords. "Well, don't just stand there, you skinny boys in suits. Get to work!"

"Stop them!" Davros cried as the two Doctors ran over to the console. "Get them away from the controls!"

"And spin," Donna said as she flipped another switch that made the Daleks all start turning in place. Jack, who had come up behind me after the barrier dropped and put an arm around my shoulders, was laughing. Donna smirked and flipped the same switch again. "And the other way."

"What did you do?" the other Doctor asked.

Donna smirked and raised her eyebrow at the Time Lord as she explained what she had done. "Trip switch circuit-breaker in the psychokinetic threshold manipulator," she said.

The other Doctor grinned. "But that's brilliant!"

"Why did we never think of that?" the Doctor asked.

"Because you two were just Time Lords, you dumbos!" Donna laughed. "Lacking that little bit of human. That gut instinct that comes hand in hand with Planet Earth. I can think of ideas you two couldn't dream of in a million years. Oh, the universe has been waiting for me."

Naya wandered over to the console then, staring in wonder at Donna as the red haired woman spoke excitedly. She stood in between the two Doctors and watched with a smile as Donna kept on talking, still excited and grinning wildly.

"Now, let's send that trip switch all over the ship." Donna smiled and pointed proudly at herself. "Did I ever tell you, best temp in Chiswick? Hundred words per minute," she said with a wiggle of her fingers.

"Oh, Donna Noble, you are fantastic!" the other Doctor exclaimed.

Jack suddenly patted my shoulder, drawing my attention away from the Doctors, Donna, and Naya. "You, with me," he said.

"What?"

"TARDIS!" he urged.

Jack turned and started running towards the ship and I immediately followed after him. He pushed the doors open and rushed over to the console just as I stepped in. He had picked up two of the three guns that had been left behind when we were forced to leave the ship.

"Grab one and come on!" he shouted before bolting past me.

I ran over to the console and grabbed the third gun, then hurried back into the Dalek vault. Mickey was aiming a gun at Davros while Jack was standing protectively in front of Sarah Jane and Martha with another. I still didn't know how to properly handle a gun, let alone one as large as the one I was carrying, so I called Rose's name as I ran over to her.

"Here," I said. "You know how to use it better than I do."

Rose nodded seriously and took the gun, pulling the strap over her shoulder. She cocked the gun and aimed it at the closest Dalek. "Right then," she said. "Don't move and we don't have a problem."

Meanwhile, Jackie and Sarah Jane were pushing a single Dalek out of the way, and Martha kicked one aside with a frustrated grunt. Seeing that Rose, Mickey, and Jack had the situation under control, I walked over to the console where Donna stood beside the two Doctors and Naya.

"Off you go, Clom!" the Doctor said with a grin.

"Back home, Adipose Three," the other Doctor said as he flipped a lever.

Donna glanced at me and, after winking at me a second time, began flipping a series of different levers. "Shallacatop, Pyrovillia and the Lost Moon of Poosh," she said before hitting another lever with her foot. "Sorted. _Ha!_ "

"We need more power!" the Doctor suddenly exclaimed.

"Is anyone going to tell us what's going on?" Rose asked, walking up to the console with her mother, Sarah Jane, and Jack right beside her.

Donna and the Doctor stepped away from the console, while Naya and the metacrisis Doctor stayed back. The Doctor had taken out his sonic screwdriver and was pointing it at a mess of wires he had gathered in his hand. Donna gestured to the Time Lord beside her as she explained. " _He_ poured all his regeneration energy into his spare hand. _I_ touched the hand and _he_ ," she said as she pointed at the metacrisis Doctor, "grew out of that, but that fed back into me. _But_ it just stayed dormant in my head till the synapses got that little extra spark, kicking them into life. Thank you, Davros!"

The Doctor somehow managed to flash a grin around the sonic now clutched in his mouth while he continued working on the wires in his hands. Donna smiled at the rest of us as she continued her explanation. "Part human, part Time Lord. And I got the best bit of the Doctor," the redhead said. "I got his mind."

"So there's three of you?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Three Doctors?" Rose continued.

Jack made an odd noise in the back of his throat and shifted a little uncomfortably. "I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now," he muttered. "I don't suppose the three of you and Diana would be up for-"

" _No!_ " myself and the Doctors interjected. A second later, however, Donna shrugged and smiled at Jack. "Well…," she trailed off.

"Hey," I said as I pointed a finger at Donna. "No."

"How about just you and me, then?" she suggested.

"Are you flirting with me?" I asked incredulously.

Donna smiled. "Well, I am part Doctor," she reasoned.  
"And you're also part Donna," the Doctor reminded her.

"Yes, and we're moving on," Sarah Jane urged with a sigh.

The Doctor looked at Donna again. "You're so unique the timelines were converging on you," he said. "Human being with a Time Lord brain. That's why it all focused on you."

Davros suddenly spoke up, addressing the crazed Dalek he had trusted. "But you promised me, Dalek Caan. Why did you not foresee this?" he questioned.

The Doctor stopped his work and looked up at Davros. "Oh, I think he did. Something's been manipulating the timelines for ages, getting Donna Noble to the right place at the right time."

"This would always have happened," Caan said. "I only helped, Doctor."

"You betrayed the Daleks!" Davros snapped angrily.

"I saw the Daleks. What we have done, throughout time and space, I saw the truth of us, Creator," Caan responded, "and I decreed, _no more!_ "

Caan's last words echoed in my mind as I recalled the Doctor as he was during the Time War, and how those words were the banner that he waded through the War with. Jack's voice splitting through Caan's deranged laughter startled me enough to bring me out of my thoughts, however.

"Heads up!" the captain shouted as he aimed his gun at something across the room.

Rolling into the vault was the red Dalek. "DAV-ROS, YOU HAVE BE-TRAYED US!' the Dalek exclaimed.

"It was Dalek Caan!" Davros countered.

"THE VAULT WILL BE PURGED! YOU WILL ALL BE EX-TER-MIN-AT-ED!" the red Dalek shouted before firing at the console where Naya and the metacrisis Doctor were working.

"Like I was saying, feel this!" Jack shouted before blasting the Dalek.

Meanwhile, the console had short circuited and was sparking uncontrollably, as well as smoking. The Doctor ran over to the console with a shout, checking on Naya first before turning towards the controls to check them as well.

"We've lost the magnetron! And there's only one planet left," he said as he checked a tiny screen on the console. "And guess which one. But we can use the TARDIS. Naya, with me!"

The Doctor and Naya dodged across the room and ran inside the TARDIS, while the metacrisis Doctor stayed back with Donna and they continued working at the controls there.

"Holding Earth stability and maintaining atmospheric shell," the other Doctor said to Donna.

Caan suddenly spoke up admit the chaos. "The prophecy must complete!" he cackled.

"Don't listen to him," Davros said.

"I have seen the end of everything Dalek," Caan continued, "and you must make it happen, Doctor."

I looked to the metacrisis Doctor and saw his face harden. "He's right. With or without a reality bomb, this Dalek Empire's dangerous enough to slaughter all of creation," he muttered. "I have to stop them."

"Wait," Donna said firmly. "Just- just wait for the Doctor."

"I _am_ the Doctor." The metacrisis Doctor was suddenly working at the controls again. "Maximizing Dalekanium power feeds and blasting them back!"

The Crucible suddenly shook as the defenseless Daleks scattered throughout the Vault began to explode. From inside the TARDIS, the Doctor cried out and ran to the open doorway of the ship. He watched in shock as the remaining Daleks all exploded.

"What have you done?" the Doctor exclaimed.

The metacrisis looked right at his other self, his eyes almost daring the other Time Lord to challenge him. "Fulfilling the prophecy," he said.

"Do you know what you've done?"

"I had to!" the metacrisis Doctor countered.

Ignoring his other self, the Doctor looked to myself and the others. "All of you, inside the TARDIS! Run!"

The metacrisis Doctor grabbed my hand and ran for the ship, practically dragging me behind him. Once we were inside, the Doctor let go of my hand and began ushering the others inside, calling their names as they ran through the doors and past the metacrisis Doctor and I.

"Sarah Jane! Rose! Jackie! Jack! Mickey!"

The Doctor had stayed just outside the ship to make sure everyone went in safely. I moved to the open doorway and held out my hand to the Time Lord. "Doctor!" I called over the explosions erupting all over the vault. "Come on!"

The Doctor glanced at me for a moment before looking at Davros, who was stuck behind a large piece of metal that had fallen from the ceiling. "Davros!" he shouted. "Come with me! I promise I can save you!"

I knew Davros would never allow his greatest enemy to save him and I tried to urge the Doctor inside once more. "Theta, please!"

"Never forget, Doctor!" Davros screamed. " _You_ did this! I name you! Forever, _you_ are the Destroyer of the Worlds!"

A wall of flames suddenly erupted in front of the TARDIS, blocking the Doctor from getting to Davros. I reached out and grabbed him by his jacket so I could pull him inside the ship. He started to stumble in when Caan, who was somehow still alive, shouted one more prophecy.

"One will still die!" the deranged Dalek cried before dissolving into laughter.

The Doctor finally went inside the TARDIS, closing the doors behind him as he raced over to the console. The metacrisis Doctor and all of the others had already gathered around the console as they waited for the Doctor. I ran over to the console and moved to stand between the metacrisis Doctor and Sarah Jane while the Doctor began working at the controls. The ship suddenly lurched to one side from the effect of an explosion and everyone grabbed hold of the console to steady themselves.

"But what about the Earth?" Sarah asked as the ship began to dematerialize. "It's stuck in the wrong part of space!"

"I'm on it," the Doctor said. He pressed a few buttons and then flipped a switch before addressing the screen positioned above the controls. "Torchwood Hub, this is the Doctor. Are you receiving me?"

"Loud and clear," I heard Gwen say. "Is Jack there? And who the hell are you?"

"Oh, I can't get rid of him. And I'm still the Doctor, by the way. Just changed my face. Thanks for noticing." The Doctor suddenly looked up from the screen and glanced at Jack in confusion. "Jack, what's her name?"

Jack smiled. "Gwen Cooper."

The Doctor smiled and looked back at the screen as Rose leaned in to look at it as well. "Tell me, Gwen Cooper, are you from an old Cardiff family?"

"Yes, all the way back to the eighteen hundreds. Why?"

"Spatial genetic multiplicity," the Doctor muttered. "Let's just say that I may have met one of your ancestors a long time ago. It's a funny old world. Now, Torchwood, I want you to open up that Rift Manipulator. Send all the power to me."

"Doing it now, sir," I heard Ianto answer.

"What's that for?" Rose asked.

"It's a tow rope. Now then. Sarah, what was your son's name?"

"Luke. He's called Luke. And the computer's called Mister Smith!" she added quickly.

After rapidly pressing a series of button on the console, the Doctor addressed the screen again. "Calling Luke and Mister Smith. This is the Doctor. Come on, Luke. Shake a leg!"

"Is Mum there?" Luke asked, his voice sounding throughout the console room.

"Oh, she's fantastic," the Doctor replied with a grin. Sarah smiled and sighed in relief once she knew her son was alright. "Now, Mister Smith, I want you to harness the rift power and loop it around the TARDIS. You got that?"

The computer answered, "I regret I will need remote access to TARDIS base code numerals."

The Doctor groaned. "Oh, blimey, that's going to take a while," he grumbled.

"No, no, let me!" Sarah exclaimed as she raced around the console, squeezing in between Rose and the Doctor. "K-9, out you come!"

"Affirmative, Mistress!" the robot dog answered, bringing a smile to my face.

"Oh, fantastic!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Oh, good dog! K-9, give Mister Smith the base code."

"Master. TARDIS base code now being transferred. The process is simple," K-9 answered.

"Now then, you lot," the Doctor said as he backed away fro the console, guiding Sarah Jane back to her spot between Mickey and I. He pointed to a lever and said, "Sarah, hold that down."

I smiled then, knowing exactly what the Doctor was doing. The TARDIS had rarely ever been properly flown before while in the Doctor's possession and finally the old girl was going to be piloted the way it was supposed to.

"Mickey, you hold that," the Time Lord said as he began walking around the console. "Because you know why the TARDIS is always rattling about the place? Rose? That right there, if you please," he instructed as he pointed to another lever. "It's designed to have six pilots and I have to do it single handed. And if I'm very lucky, Diana's able to help me- Martha, keep that level. But even with two pilots, it's still difficult. But not any more. Jack, there you go. Steady that. Now we can fly this ship-."

The Doctor stopped when he saw Jackie Tyler looking expectantly at him. "No, Jackie. No, not you," he stammered awkwardly. "Don't touch anything. Just stand back." Clearing his throat, the Doctor stepped past Jackie and circled round the console so he was standing beside myself and his counterpart.

"Like I was saying, now we can fly this ship like she's meant to be flown. We've got the Torchwood Rift looped around the TARDIS by Mister Smith and we're going to fly Planet Earth back home. Donna, you do the honors."

Donna stepped up to the console and put her hands on it with a smile. She gazed happily at the console for a moment before she flipped the dematerialization lever. The TARDIS let out a wheeze and began to fly my planet back home. The ship lurched slightly as it took on the weight of the planet, but once it began pulling Earth back home the flight was incredibly smooth.

Suddenly, a beautiful song began to flood through the TARDIS. It was a song that I knew and recognized from back home, a song that was so incredibly and breathtakingly beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes. An image came to mind that accompanied the music: it was the Ood, all gathered in a circle with their hands joined as they sang.

"What is that?" Martha asked. "That music. Where's it coming from?"

"The Ood," I said as I opened my eyes. "It's the song of freedom. And they're singing it for us."

Across the console room, a projection of Ood Sigma appeared. He bowed to everyone before finally speaking. "This is our gift to you, Children of Time. This is our song."

Ood Sigma disappeared a moment later, but the song continued. The Doctor and Donna began walking around the console, checking on everyone and instructing them if they needed to do something differently. Naya had taken Donna's place at the console standing between Rose and Martha hime she worked on her section of the controls. I was still standing by the console, but was fine with letting the others pilot the ship together. The metacrisis Doctor suddenly turned to me and grinned, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the console.

"Doctor, what-"

"Dance with me," he said as he pulled me against him.

As the music crescendoed and swelled, the Doctor began dancing with me as if we were at a ball. He had one hand on my waist and held my hand in his other one as we slowly danced in circles. I took that time to get a good look at the new Doctor, noticing then that his outfit matched mine. When I had jumped to the parallel world, I was wearing the leather jacket Missy had given me along with a pair of dark jeans and a dark blue colored v-neck. The metacrisis Doctor was wearing a replica of his battered leather jacket that matched the shade of mine and a jumper the same color and cut as my shirt.

"Diana?" he breathed.

I looked up from his chest to see his eyes staring seriously into mine. "Yes?"

The Doctor smiled and leaned forward to kiss me, pausing just as our lips brushed. "I love you," he whispered before finally claiming the kiss.

We pulled apart unwillingly when the TARDIS groaned and suddenly jerked. Everyone who was stationed around the console looked to the Doctor, who grinned and confirmed that the Earth was back home. All at once, everyone burst into laughter and applause. The metacrisis Doctor and I were still standing apart from the rest of the group and watching happily as companions began hugging one another.

Donna, Naya, and the Doctor hugged, while Rose and Martha embraced just behind them. Jackie and Mickey were holding onto each other and laughing while Sarah Jane and Jack shared a hug as well. The metacrisis Doctor turned to me again and gently held my chin between his thumb and forefinger as he leaned down to kiss me again. Once we pulled away, Naya came bounding across the console room and threw her arms around my waist. The Doctor looked down at our daughter and smiled before drawing both of us into a hug.

* * *

The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors and stepped outside, looking around as Sarah Jane and I stepped out after him. The metacrisis Doctor had decided to stay inside the ship instead of saying goodbye to Sarah and the others. As the doors slid shut behind us, the Doctor moved so he was standing just in front of the ship and watched as Sarah and I looked around at our surroundings. We had landed in some kind of park where children were playing and people were walking their dogs or riding bikes.

Sarah smiled as she took in a deep breath, then suddenly spun around to face the Doctor and I. "You know," she began, "you act like such a lonely man. But look at you! You've got the biggest family on Earth!"

The three of us laughed and Sarah opened her arms wide, gesturing for the Doctor to give her a hug. They embraced and as soon as they parted, Sarah turned to me and pulled me into a hug as well. As Sarah pulled away, she kissed me lightly on the cheek.

"Oh!" she suddenly gasped, clapping her hands together. "Got to go! Luke's only fourteen. It's a long story. And thank you!"

The Doctor smiled and waved at Sarah as she returned the gesture before turning and walking off. I leaned my head against the Doctor's shoulder and sighed as I watched Sarah leave, wondering when I would next see the journalist.

"You okay?" the Doctor asked after a minute.

I nodded. "Yeah. Just thinking."

"I spotted you and big ears point two canoodling earlier."

"You do realize that you're making fun of yourself, right?"

Smiling, the Doctor shrugged and sighed, "Well…"

The TARDIS doors opened again and this time, Martha and Jack stepped out. I pushed off of the Doctor's shoulder and smiled at the two, already sad to see them leave. Jack reached out and pulled me into what was at least my tenth hug that day. He gently kissed the crown of my head before releasing me and stepping back. Martha opened her arms and smiled as we both moved forward for another hug.

"You take care of yourself, alright?"

I nodded seriously. "Yes, ma'am."

Martha pulled away and laughed. "Good. And look after him," she added with a nod in the Doctor's direction. "If he can change his face like that, then God only knows what else he'll get up to when you're not looking."

"Tell me about it," Jack added with a grin.

The Doctor reached out suddenly and grabbed Jack's wrist, pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his coat pocket with his other hand. "I told you," he said as he started sonicing the device,"no teleport. And Martha, get rid of that Osterhagen thing. We don't need _another_ weapon of mass destruction on this planet."

Martha nodded and smiled fondly at the Doctor. "Consider it done."

The Doctor dropped Jack's wrist, the vortex manipulator officially out of service once more. Jack sighed and looked a little sadly at his manipulator for a moment or two. Then he suddenly stood to attention and saluted the Doctor while Martha followed suite. The Doctor nodded awkwardly at the pair and saluted them back with two fingers, signaling for them to stop.

Reaching out for Martha's hand, Jack turned around and began walking down the same path that Sarah Jane had taken. "You know, I'm not sure about UNIT these days," I heard Jack say to Martha. "Maybe there's something else you could be doing?"

The TARDIS door creaked open again and Mickey came bounding out, merely waving at the Doctor and I. The Doctor, however, wasn't going to let Mickey off so easily. "Oi, where are you going?" the Time Lord asked.

Mickey stopped and turned towards us. "Well, I'm not stupid. I can work out what happens next," he said as he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. "And hey, I had a good time in that parallel world, but my gran passed away. Nice and peaceful. She spent her last years living in a mansion. There's nothing there for me now, certainly not Rose."

"What will you do?" the Doctor asked.

"Anything. Brand new life. Just you watch." Finally looking at me, Mickey smiled. "See you around, Di. Stay out of trouble, yeah?"

I nodded and gave Mickey a reassuring smile. "I will. And take care of yourself, Mickey."

"Absolutely." Mickey glanced back at the Doctor and the two bumped fists. "See you, boss," he said before turning and running off after jack and Martha. "Hey, you two!"

The Doctor put an arm around my shoulder turned us both around so we were facing the TARDIS. "After you," he said softly, gesturing towards the doors.

Sparing Martha, Jack, and Mickey one final glance, I opened the doors and stepped inside. Rose and Jackie were speaking softly to one another on the ramp, while the metacrisis Doctor and Donna were talking with Naya by the console. I noticed that the other Doctor had a very sad expression on his face and I immediately rushed across the console room to check on him.

"Hey," I whispered as I gently touched his arm. "You okay?"

The Doctor paused for a moment before nodding and giving me an unconvincing smile. "Fantastic," he said weakly.  
I shook my head. "No. What is it? What's wrong?" I looked at Naya and Donna then, hoping they would know what had happened to upset him so much. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Naya said. "They won't tell me."

"Now then!" the Doctor exclaimed as he began walking around the console. "Time for one last trip."

The metacrisis Doctor suddenly pulled away from me and walked over to stand beside his counterpart at the console. "Dårlig Ulv Stranden," the metacrisis Doctor said as he flipped a few controls. "Better known as-"

"Bad Wolf Bay," Rose said.

* * *

"Oh, fat lot of good this is," Jackie grumbled as she stepped out of the TARDIS, the metacrisis Doctor, Rose, and I right behind her. "Back of beyond. Bloody Norway?" She turned to Rose and pointed at her daughter. "I'm going to have to phone your father. He's on the nursery run. I was pregnant, do you remember?" she asked as she turned towards the metacrisis Doctor. "Had a baby boy."

"What did you call him?" he asked.

"Doctor."

"What, really?"

Jackie smiled and shook her head. "No, you plum. He's called Tony."

"So we're back in the parallel universe, right?" Rose interjected.

The Doctor nodded. "You're back home," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"And the walls of the world are closing again now that the reality bomb never happened. It's dimensional retroclosure," Donna explained, making Naya smile proudly. "See, I really get that stuff now."

Rose shook her head. "No, but I spent all that time trying to find you both. I'm not going back now!"

"You've got to," the Doctor said. "Because we saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him." From his place beside me, the metacrisis Doctor bristled slightly. "He destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own."

"I _am_ you," the metacrisis Doctor said. "You made me."

"Exactly. You were born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge. Remind you of someone?" the Doctor asked, his eyes flickering to me. "That's me when we first met, Rose. Fresh from the loss of my home, of what I thought was my wife's death. And then I met you and you made me better. Now you can do the same for him."

"Wait," I said, looking at the Doctor in confusion. "Doctor, what do you mean?"

"I'm staying," the metacrisis Doctor said.

I whirled around on the other Doctor and looked up at him. "What? No you're not, you're coming back. With us."

He shook his head seriously. "I'm not."

"Of course you are."

"Diana," he sighed, "I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I won't let you ruin your life for me. If I go back, you'll never leave me. I know you. You'll want to stay with me, look after me, make sure I don't feel abandoned."

"Of course I will. You're… You're my boyfriend, my husband at some point. Why wouldn't I want to stay with you?" I asked.

"Diana, I'm not going back. That's my decision to make, not yours. I know the consequences-"

"No," I snapped. "No, you're not staying here."

"Diana-"

" _No!_ Doctor, if you stay here, you'll never see me again! You'll never see Naya or our daughters ever again! Is that what you want?"

The metacrisis Doctor shook his head. "No, of course it's not. But I can't stay in our universe, not without ruining everything. There can't be two Doctors."

"Of course there can. Don't be stupid."

"Diana, please. Just listen to me. I've made my choice and I'm staying here. Please, let me do this. For you."

"How is this for me?" I questioned angrily.

"If I stay with you, then you'll never properly be with the Doctor. With _him_. You'll always come back to me out of guilt, out of love, out of worry. You'll always feel like it's your fault. So I'm taking that away from you so you don't get hurt."

I scoffed. "You don't think that this hurts me? Theta, I'm not leaving this beach unless you're with me."

The metacrisis Doctor sighed and lowered his head. "Diana, please-"

"I _love_ you," I breathed, stepping closer to him and forcing him to look at me. "Please don't do this. Come back with us. We'll find a way to make it work, I promise. Just please don't stay here… I-I can't loose you."

"Diana-"

In a desperate attempt to convince him, I grabbed the lapels of his leather jacket and pulled the metacrisis Doctor down to my height for a wild, desperate kiss. The Doctor was frozen in shock for a moment before he realized what was happening. Then he suddenly pulled me against him and returned the kiss, one of his hands tangling in my hair as his other arm wrapped around my waist.

 _Don't stay. Don't stay. Don't stay,_ I repeated in my mind. _Please, God, don't stay. I love you. Don't stay._

The Doctor pulled away first, although he didn't move his arm from around my waist or his hand from my hair. He merely gazed down at me in silence, his eyes frantically searching mine. I looked up at him, hardly daring to breathe as he decided whether he would leave with me or stay.

"Please," I whispered.

Closing his eyes, the Doctor bowed his head low enough for his forehead to rest against mine. "Okay," he said. "I'll go."

Relief flooded through me and I gave the metacrisis Doctor another kiss to show how thrilled I was. He gently cupped my face in his hands before pulling away and flashing me a smile. I grabbed one of his hands as he lowered his arms and intertwined our fingers.

"So you're just going to leave me here? Again?" Rose asked.

"We have to," the Doctor said, glancing at me and his other self.

"But I want to travel with you! You and Diana, you two were my best friends. I love you both. I don't want to loose that. No again."

"Rose," Naya said, finally speaking up after staying silent through the entire conversation, "do you think you could leave your family behind?"

Rose furrowed her brows in confusion. "What?"

"We can never come back to this dimension. Not ever. No dimension canon can bring you back to your mum and dad, to your little brother. You'll never see them again."

"But the dimension canon still works, doesn't it? There's nothing wrong with it. Mine's in the TARDIS, we could-"

"It won't work. The connections between dimensions are sealing off for good. Once we leave, we can never come back. You'll never see them again."

Rose shook her head. "But I can't just leave them."

"You have to choose," Donna spoke up. "I'm sorry, but you have to. It's this universe or the other."

Rose looked back at her mother, obviously conflicted with her choice. The metacrisis Doctor suddenly tugged on my hand, which made me glance up at him expectantly. He offered me a half smile and lightly ran the pad of his thumb across my hand. Then he looked past me at Rose and cleared his throat.

"Rose?"

The blonde turned around to face us. "Yes, Doctor?"

"Come with us. Rose Tyler, the Doctor, and Diana in the TARDIS. Just as it should be. With a few additions, of course," he said as he glanced at Donna and Naya.

"Really?"

He nodded and then turned his eyes back to me. "I've got it," he said. "We grab Rose's dimension canon, she uses it so she can say goodbye to her father, and then we're off!"

"Do you really mean that?" Rose asked.

The metacrisis Doctor looked at his other self and they nodded at each other silently. The Doctor looked at Rose then and smiled. "Say your goodbyes to Jackie now," he suggested. "Then a visit to dear old Dad before we go."

Rose turned back to her mother and the two embraced tearfully. The Doctor started for the TARDIS, telling Rose that he would wait for her inside the ship. The metacrisis Doctor tightened his grip on my hand and we walked towards the ship together, a smile beaming on my face. I knew that we were rewriting time by letting Rose and the new Doctor join the TARDIS crew, but there was no way I was leaving the Doctor behind. I would face Davros and his Daleks all over again if I had to, so long as he wasn't alone and abandoned without his family.

As soon as I stepped inside the ship, however, the metacrisis Doctor suddenly shoved me forward. I lost my balance and stumbled forward a few paces as the doors slammed shut behind me. I grabbed onto the railing along the edge of the ramp to steady myself and immediately raced for the doors, grabbing the handles and trying to pull them open.

"No," I gasped. "No! Doctor! _Doctor!_ "

The doors were sealed shut and refused to budge even when I used every ounce of my strength to try and open them. Screaming in anger, I pounded my fists against the doors.

"Doctor! Don't you dare! _Don't you dare!_ " I whirled around and stared at the Doctor; he was standing at the console with his back to me. Naya was standing next to him and speaking frantically to him in another language. "Open the doors!"

"Diana," Donna said as she took a step towards me, "please-"

"You knew," I hissed. "You knew he was going to trick me."

"It was the only way-"

"Doctor, open the doors _now!_ " I demanded.

"I can't," he whispered, his voice cracking as his shoulders began to shake.

The TARDIS let out a wheeze and began to dematerialize. I cried out in protest again and turned back to the doors, trying twice as hard as before to get them to open. "No, _no!_ Take me back! Take me back! I'm not leaving him! Doctor!" I screamed. " _Doctor!_ "

"Stop it," the Doctor begged.

"No, take me back! I can't just leave him!"

"Diana, stop it, _please_." The Doctor took a deep, shuddering breath. "He made his choice. There's nothing you can do."

"Like hell there isn't."

My dimension canon was still hanging around my neck, having been forgotten as soon as we were threatened with a Dalek attack and the end of creation. But as soon as I reached for it, the Doctor appeared and yanked it out of my hands, his strength great enough to snap the chain from around my neck. He immediately threw it on the floor and smashed it with the heel of his foot, pulling me away from the device as it glowed with white light before vanishing altogether.

The moment the dimension canon disappeared, the Doctor released me and walked back to the console, ignoring me completely. I stared at the spot the canon had disappeared from in shock. Rage began to bubble up inside me as tears formed in my eyes. Because of him, I would never see that Doctor again and he would be trapped in a parallel world without me or his children.

My rage was so blinding that when I turned to stalk towards the Doctor, I didn't notice the fact that everything around me was fading fast. All I could think and feel was hurt and betrayal because of the fact that I'd been tricked into leaving the man I loved behind. My hand balled into a fist at my side as the console room suddenly spun around me, orange and coral colors swirling together and then pulling apart to form a new console room bathed in dark blue and silver and black. But the changes barely even registered with me as I continued forward towards the man leaning against the console with his back to me.

The man suddenly turned around and revealed the Doctor, older and silver-haired, looking uneasily at me. "Diana?" he asked hesitantly.

A split second later, my fist slammed into the Time Lord's face and he fell back against the console with a shout. "You bastard," I snarled, leaning over the Doctor as he cradled his face in his hand. "How dare you."

 **A/N: Please, I am begging you, review! I am dying to know what you think!**


	20. The Aftermath

**A/N: So I know it's been a while and that this chapter is really freaking short, but I lost all inspiration for a while and only just got it back after the latest episode. (Of which we will not speak.) This is basically just a prelude to the next chapter and it's not my best work, but I knew I needed to get this out as soon as possible.**

 _My rage was so blinding that when I turned to stalk towards the Doctor, I didn't notice the fact that everything around me was fading fast. All I could think and feel was hurt and betrayal because of the fact that I'd been tricked into leaving the man I loved behind. My hand balled into a fist at my side as the console room suddenly spun around me, orange and coral colors swirling together and then pulling apart to form a new console room bathed in dark blue and silver and black. But the changes barely even registered with me as I continued forward towards the man leaning against the console with his back to me._

 _The man suddenly turned around and revealed the Doctor, older and silver-haired, looking uneasily at me. "Diana?" he asked hesitantly._

 _A split second later, my fist slammed into the Time Lord's face and he fell back against the console with a shout. "You bastard," I snarled, leaning over the Doctor as he cradled his face in his hand. "How dare you."_

"Diana!" he cried, his expression a mix of confusion, pain, and worry.

" _How dare you_ ," I repeated as I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled his face closer to mine.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "Diana, I'm so sorry. I didn't-"

"You think apologizing is going to make up for what you just did?" I shouted.

I released the Doctor's collar and took a step back, staring angrily at him as he peeled himself off of the console. He rubbed gently at his already bruising cheek and grimaced. I shook my head and turned away, not wanting the Time Lord to see the angry tears already brimming in my eyes.

"How could you do that?" I asked. "How could you do that to me?"

"Diana, I'm sorry. I had no idea that you were pregnant."

I immediately whirled around to stare incredulously at the Doctor. " _What?_ "

The Doctor's eyes went wide as soon as he saw the incredibly confused look on my face. "Oh," he muttered. "Ah, never mind. Wrong mistake. Which- er, which mistake are you angry about?"

"The one where you lied to me and forced me to abandon you in a parallel universe," I snapped.

"Oh."

"Yeah. 'Oh.' "

"Please," the Time Lord sighed, "let me explain-"

"You knew. You knew I wouldn't leave that beach without him and you tricked me. You lied to me."

"Diana-"

"I'm not finished!" I hissed. "Don't try and explain your way out of this. Don't say it was for my own good or that you were just trying to protect me or look after me. You did it because you were selfish and you weren't willing to do what I wanted- what I _needed_. I couldn't just abandon him, but you made me! How is that okay?"

"I did what I had to," the Doctor said lowly as he avoided my questioning gaze.

"No, you did what you _thought_ you had to do. We could have let him stay on the TARDIS. Or brought him to Torchwood or UNIT. But no, you had to be the self righteous Time Lord that you always are."

"I did what he wanted. Yes, I lied to you. Yes, I tricked you. But I also gave him what he wanted, what he and I both wanted."

"And what was that?" I asked.

"For you to live your life free of any guilt or worry you might feel for him."

"Did you think I would love him more than I would love you?" I wondered, eagerly searching the Doctor's eyes for any hint of jealousy. "Because I wouldn't have. I would have loved you both equally."

The Doctor nodded. "I know. That's not why he wanted to stay. We all knew, even Donna knew, that you would never lead a normal life with him living in the same universe."

"No, you don't know that!" I exclaimed.

"Diana, I've known you for nearly my entire life. I know _exactly_ how you think, how you feel. And so did he. I didn't decide to leave him there because I was jealous and he didn't decide to stay because he didn't want to be with you. He loved you and he didn't want to give you up, but he did because he knew it was the right thing. He knew it was the best thing he could do for you."

I shook my head again, my lower lip trembling as I held back the tears welling in my eyes. They were angry, frustrated tears that wouldn't go away no matter how hard I tried to ignore them. The more I thought about what had happened, the more the tears stung in my eyes until they finally began to spill down my cheeks. Immediately, I spun around so my back was facing the Doctor; I didn't want him to see me cry, even though it was already too late.

"Diana," the Doctor breathed, his fingertips brushing against my shoulder, "please-"

" _Don't_." I wrapped my arms around my torso, closing myself off to him as I shied away from his touch. "Just don't."

"You can be angry with me all you want," he suddenly snapped, "but not at him, or at Donna."

 _Donna,_ I repeated mentally. _He did it, didn't he?_

At my silence, the Doctor anxiously said my name. "What is it? Please, will you at least tell me what you're thinking?"

"You took her memories, didn't you?" It was more of a statement than a question. I knew what he'd done.

The Doctor sighed. "I had to. She would have died."

"She begged you not to- to take her memories," I said. "She _begged_ you and you still did it. You forced yourself into her mind and you killed her."

"I didn't kill her. I saved her."

I whirled around to face the Doctor again. "No. You took away the best part of her. She was better with you! You _made_ her better! And she made you better. And then when it mattered most, you took that away from her so she was left with nothing but selfishness and shallowness. You killed who she was and forced her to be the person that she hated. She was the most important woman in the whole universe and when she asked you to let her die, you ignored her!"

The Doctor suddenly stepped towards me, his eyes flashing angrily as he loomed over me. "I couldn't loose my best friend! I'd just lost you and Rose, I couldn't loose her too!"

"Is it better to know that she's still alive but that you mean nothing to her?" I snapped. "She may as well be dead because I can never see her again. I can never tell her how brilliant she is. How wonderful and beautiful and important she is. She'll never know how magnificent she is. You took that from her."

"Because she was dying, Diana. I saved her and I will stand by my choice until my last breath. I'd rather she be alive and never give me a second thought than to have her blood on my hands."

"But she was your friend!" I shouted, the few tears I had been able to hold back finally spilling over my cheeks again. "She was _our_ friend and she wanted to stay with you and you took away what made her good! And you lied to me. You lied to Rose. You gave me _hope_ and then you took it away and now he's never going to see me or Naya or Susan or Hope or Josephine ever again and I-." I broke off mid sentence as my words turned into a desperate sob.

My legs wobbled slightly as I began sobbing and I stumbled backwards a few steps until my back bumped against the metal railing along the edge of the platform. My right hand flew out to grab the railing and steady myself while my other hand cupped my mouth as I continued to cry. The Doctor, whose eyes had turned red and watery, stepped forward and gently brushed his fingers against my hand. I loosened my grip on the railing as he tugged my hand away from the railing and then slowly pulled me towards him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he wrapped his arms around me.

I resisted his embrace at first, wanting only to be alone and to cry without him there to watch. But then an image of the metacrisis Doctor, smiling down at me while we stood together on Bad Wolf Bay, appeared in my mind and I let out another sob. I buried my head in the Time Lord's chest as my body shook with the strength of my crying.

"I know," the Doctor said. "I'm sorry." He gently cradled my head in one of his hands as I continued crying into his chest. "I'm sorry."

* * *

Don't stay _, I thought desperately, tears streaking across my cheeks as the Doctor and I kissed._ Please, God, don't stay. Don't stay. Come back with me. Stay with me. Please, I love you. Just come with me. Stay with me. Please.

 _The Doctor suddenly pulled away and looked down at me, his eyes red and filled with tears. He smiled sadly and pressed a kiss to my forehead before suddenly pushing me away from him. As I stumbled back, the Doctor and the beach we had been standing on began to fade away._

 _"Goodbye," he said as he hung his head in shame._

 _I screamed and cried and fought against invisible hands keeping me from running back to the Doctor. Then I was hurtling through a kaleidoscope of colors, all of space and time racing past me as I cried into the emptiness of the vortex._

When I finally woke up, I could feel a slight dampness on my face. Tears. I had barely started wiping the already drying tears from my face when I was suddenly overcome with a wave of confusion. Was I in my bedroom? The last thing I could remember was punching the Doctor in the face and our fight, then collapsing in his arms as I cried. Had I fallen asleep?

The TARDIS whirred softly overhead, making me glance up at the ceiling in mild confusion. Something buzzed from its spot on my bedside table and when I turned, I saw that it was my cell phone. I grabbed it and unlocked the screen to find that the TARDIS had sent me a message.

 _"The Doctor is in the library. He felt too guilty to wait for you to wake up._ "

"What's he doing in the library?" I asked, my voice thick and rough.

My phone vibrated in my hands, signaling that I had received another message. " _He's feeling nostalgic_ ," was the only answer I got from the ship.

I wasn't feeling very talkative, especially after my dream and the events that had inspired it, so I didn't bother replying to the TARDIS again. Instead I lay back in bed and stared silently at the ceiling. Tears were still fresh on my cheeks and the dream was still fresh in my mind as I turned onto my side, curling into a ball with the covers wrapped around me.

My phone buzzed again, but I ignored it. I didn't want the TARDIS asking if I was alright because I wasn't. At all. I felt like my heart had been ripped out and torn apart. I felt betrayed and hurt and unbelievably sad. I wanted to cry for a week and scream at the Doctor for lying to me and tear the universe apart to get back to the metacrisis Doctor, but I could barely move. I had no way back to him, I suddenly realized. My dimension canon had been destroyed and I could never see the Doctor again, and he could never see me again either.

The weight of that realization had started to sink in before I had fallen asleep, but laying in bed with only my thoughts as company meant that I could focus on nothing else. My eyes welled with tears immediately as I let out a strangled sob and buried my face in my comforter. Within a matter of seconds, I was crying so violently that my entire body was shaking and I was sobbing loud enough that not even my blankets could stifle the sound.

Seconds, minutes, maybe even hours passed, as I sobbed relentlessly into the covers. Then, suddenly, my bedroom door opened and somebody ran across the room to fall to their knees in front of me. I immediately turned my head away so they wouldn't see my face as I tried to stop crying. A hand rested on my arm and small, slender fingers rubbed comfortingly on my skin.

"Diana?" It was Clara. "Diana, what happened?"

I shook my head and felt my body shudder as I tried to hold back the sobs building up in my chest. It was impossible to speak because I knew if I opened my mouth, I would only break down again.

"What did he do? Diana, talk to me. Is this what happened on the moon or is it something else?"

I whimpered softly, my bottom lip trembling as I turned my head towards Clara. I caught a mere glimpse of her worried face before I buried my head in my arms and began crying again. Clara seemed to understand that I wouldn't be able to speak anytime soon, so she placed her free hand on the back of my head and gently kissed the crown of my head as I continued crying.

"Shh," she breathed. "Hey, it's okay. It's gonna be okay."

When my tears were finally spent, Clara asked again if I was okay. Taking a few moments to recover from my breakdown in front of the other woman, I suddenly pushed myself up into a sitting position. Clara leaned back in surprise as I wiped the already drying tears from my cheeks.

"Diana?" Clara asked uncertainly.

I stared straight ahead, not wanting to look at Clara and acknowledge the fact that I had broken down in front of her. Instead I ran my fingers through my hair and finished drying my eyes. "I'm fine," I said lowly, my voice cracking just slightly.

Clara sighed. " _Diana-_ "

"I'm fine," I repeated.

"No you're not. I know that voice. You're not okay."

Of course, she was right but I wasn't going to say that. "Where were you? Earlier?" I asked.

Clara sighed again and stood up, brushing off her knees. "I only just got here a few minutes before I came looking for you. The Doctor told me I should come and find you. He said you might need me." She paused for a moment as she looked curiously at me. "Why didn't he come himself?"

"He felt guilty," I answered, echoing the TARDIS's earlier words to Clara.

"About what? The moon?"

"What about the moon?" I asked as I glanced at the school teacher.

Clara suddenly shook her head, her eyes wide and her face somewhat panic stricken. "Nothing," she said quickly. "Never mind. Spoilers."

Rifling through the blankets and comforter, I found my cell phone and tucked it into the back pocket of my jeans. I quickly tossed the covers back into some form of order before turning and starting towards the bedroom door. Clara hurried after me as I stepped out into the hallway.

"Diana, wait," she said as she gently put a hand on my shoulder. "Where are you going?"

"I'm not going to look for him," I said. "I don't want to see him right now."

"But… I thought you were going to get ready."

"Ready?" I echoed in confusion.

Clara furrowed her brows in confusion. "Well, he told you, didn't he?"

I shook my head slowly as I looked curiously at Clara. "Tell me what?" I wondered.

Clara chewed nervously on her thumbnail. "Aren't you going to get ready for our last hurrah?" she asked.

"Last hurrah? What do you mean?"

Glancing away from me with a saddened expression, Clara said, "It's over. Me and the Doctor… We're done."

"What do you mean, you're done?" I asked. "You don't mean… _done_ , do you?"

"I'm sorry," she answered softly. "It's not you. I don't want to leave the Doctor and I absolutely don't want to leave you. You're one of the best friends I've ever had. It's just… I can't do this anymore. The way the Doctor is now, I just can't do it."

"You're _leaving?_ "

Clara nodded. "Yes. This trip, it's meant our last. Our final adventure. I-I could never end things with the Doctor on a slammed door. It wouldn't feel right."

"But… I don't understand. Why? I thought you fancied him."

"I did- I still do, a bit. I love you both," Clara added with a sad smile. "But after what happened last time… I thought I hated him for a long time. I don't, of course, but I can't just forget what happened."

"What did he do?"

Clara shook her head. "You know I can't tell you," she said. "I'm sorry."

"I know," I sighed as I nodded in understanding. "Spoilers. Again."

Flashing me her sad smile once more, Clara began chewing on her thumbnail again. She glanced at me over her hand and said, "Come on. We should be getting ready."

"I'm coming too?"

"Of course you are. I'm not leaving without saying goodbye to you, Diana. You mean just as much to me as the Doctor does. Besides, how will I know what to wear without your advice?" she asked, her once sad smile now genuine and teasing.

Still reeling from the shock of Clara's apparent goodbye and the events that had taken place with the metacrisis Doctor less than a day ago, I nodded mutely and let Clara guide me to the wardrobe. She immediately began sorting through dresses, looking for a specific design as she talked incessantly about something that had happened at Coal Hill a few days ago.

 _She's not really leaving, is she?_ I asked myself. _She can't be._

 **A/N: Reviews are your friends and my motivation.**


	21. The Mummy on the Orient Express: Part 1

**A/N: This chapter was taking forever to write, so I split it in half so that I could post something for everyone. Hopefully you all enjoy it! I also have a picture of Di's outfit on my pinterest (in case anyone was interested).**

"You look beautiful."

I glanced hesitantly at the mirror, looking at my reflection and the dress both Clara and the TARDIS had picked out for me. It was a beautiful navy blue dress in a 1920's style with a v-neck and thin sleeves gathered at the top of my shoulders by a beaded brooch. At the bottom of the v shaped neckline was another beaded brooch slightly larger than the others. The dress itself was very flattering and slimming, which I greatly appreciated. Sewn just a few inches lower than my hip area was a thin line of black beads. Another piece of lace-y, mostly see through material was attached over the main skirt at that point.

"Thanks," I said shyly, feeling my cheeks flush with heat. "It's a beautiful dress. Wish the sleeves were a little longer, though."

Clara shook her head. "No, it looks perfect. All you need is some nice jewelry and some curls in your hair, and you'll look amazing."

"What about you?" I asked as I turned away from the mirror. "Have you decided on a dress yet?"

"This one, I think," Clara said as she looked at one of the dresses draped over a chair.

I nodded. "I like that one best."

"You go look for some shoes while I change, okay?"

"Sure," I said before heading off into the depths of the wardrobe.

The TARDIS moved a few racks of clothes out of my way as I walked, placing some of them in my way so she could guide me. I stopped when I came across a display stand of shoes, not unlike something you would see in a shop back on Earth. I knew Clara had a fondness for heels, so I kept that in mind as I looked over the different types of shoes. All of the shoes were one of two sizes, one size being mine and the other - I assumed - was Clara's. I eventually decided on two pairs of the same shoes: black heels with an ankle strap and another strap connecting the ankle piece to the toe piece.

"So I don't really know your size, but I think the TARDIS helped me out on that," I said once I returned to the changing rooms. "I know you like heels, so I think you might like these."

"I'm sure I'll love them," Clara called from inside one of the rooms. "Could you help me, though? Just for a minute. I'm having trouble with this zipper."

"Yeah." Setting the shoes down just outside the door, I stepped inside Clara's room and was immediately tongue tied. Despite wearing nothing but some stockings and the dress, which was still half zippered in the back, Clara looked absolutely stunning. The dress was surprisingly form fitting and showed off her every curve. "Wow," I breathed.

Clara looked over her shoulder at me. "What?" she asked.

"You… You look gorgeous."

"Shut up," she laughed.

"No, _really_ ," I said seriously. "You look… _Wow_."

Clara's cheeks turned pink as she glanced back at her reflection. She smiled in embarrassment and awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. "Thank you," she said.

Realizing I was staring, I cleared my throat and quickly stepped forward. "Sorry," I mumbled as I reached for her zipper. "Let me just… get this for you."

Once I had taken care of Clara's zipper, I stepped back and grabbed at the door handle. I reached outside the room to grab her shoes and then handed them to her with a smile. Clara flashed me a smile in return as she bent over to pull the shoes on. As I watched Clara adjust the ankle strap on the heels, I suddenly felt my eyes well with tears. After everything she and the Doctor and been through, after everything she and I had been through, she was really leaving.

Less than a minute later, Clara stood up straight and looked at her reflection. She smiled slightly as she twisted her legs into various angles so she could look at the shoes better. "They look nice," she said. "Why don't you try yours on and-? … Diana?"

I met Clara's gaze in the mirror, my eyes watery and my bottom lip trembling. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

"What is it?" she asked worriedly as she turned around to look at me properly.

"I don't want you to go."

Clara's eyes went wide and watery as well. "I have to," she said.

"Can't you stay?" I asked. "Whatever happened, can't you work it out?"

Clara shook her head. "I made my choice. I talked it over with Danny and I thought for a long time about it. I need to do this. I need to say goodbye." Clara suddenly reached out and put a hand over mine. "But that doesn't mean I won't ever see you again. You could come over some time, you and the Doctor. We could have dinner or go out somewhere."

I smiled and nodded. "I'd like that."

"There, see? Nothing to worry about. I'm just not gonna travel with you two anymore. Doesn't mean I can't see you. Now dry your tears. We still have to do our hair," the school teacher laughed.

* * *

I let Clara go first as we walked from the wardrobe to the console room, anxiously fiddling with my phone the entire time. I didn't really want to see the Doctor so soon after our argument, but I couldn't not be there for Clara's goodbye trip. Especially when it meant so much to her that I be there.

 _She looks lovely_ , I thought to myself. _Not going to lie, I felt more than a little flustered when I saw her. But seriously though, she looks amazing._ I smiled a little as I watched her hair bounce as she walked. _She should cut her hair like that permanently. It looks so nice short. I wonder how silly I'd look if I cut my hair that short?_

"Doctor?" Clara called as we reached the console room, passing through the doorway that connected the room to the rest of the ship. "We're ready."

"Ah, good," the Time Lord replied from across the room. "I was starting to wonder if I needed to send in a rescue party." His back was turned towards us as he leaned over the console, but as soon as he turned around he froze completely. "Clara, you look wonderful."

I smiled a little from my place by the doorway, watching the Doctor's eyes widen as he stared at Clara. Clara laughed and shook her head. "You and Diana both seem to think I look good," she said. "Not sure why. It's just some fancy dress."

The Doctor glanced past Clara at me, his eyebrows drawn together in concern. I could just make out a faint bruise on his cheek from where I'd hit him and felt a twinge of guilt. I immediately looked away from his face and glanced over his new outfit instead. He had traded in his red lined coat for some kind of tuxedo coat and a tie not unlike the one had once worn in his first incarnation.

"Diana," he said softly, nodding his head towards me in acknowledgement.

I swallowed nervously and nodded in return. "Doctor."

"You look… beautiful," he murmured.

Smiling a little, I glanced down at the floor and awkwardly scratched my arm. "Thanks," I replied.

Suddenly clearing his throat, the Doctor gestured to the TARDIS doors. "Shall we go?" he asked.

Clara leaned against the console and nodded. The Doctor immediately pulled on the dematerialization lever and the ship wheezed in response. The ship had barely landed before the Doctor was striding across the room to the doors, pulling them open as Clara and I trailed after him. The Doctor offered Clara his hand and helped her out of the ship, then turned to me with his hand extended in my direction.

"May I?" he asked softly.

I nodded after a moment and reached out to grab his hand. His fingers curled around mine as I stepped out of the TARDIS and into what appeared to be some sort of storage room. I released the Doctor's hand and moved to stand beside Clara as I looked around the room in confusion.

The Doctor closed the doors behind us and then gestured to the room. "Your train awaits, my ladies," he said with a hesitant smile.

Clara looked skeptically at the Time Lord. "Wonderful," she said sarcastically.

"The baggage car. But thanks for lying," the Doctor replied. He stepped past us towards a door set in the right hand wall. "The real wonderful is through here."

Clara glanced at me and smiled before walking over to the door. The Doctor pushed it open for her and let her walk through, then looked over at me. He raised his eyebrows in silent questioning, waiting for me to follow her lead. I hurried after Clara through the open doorway, mumbling a hesitant "thank you" to the Doctor for holding the door for me.

Just outside the door was a narrow hallway decorated in burgundy and black, and lit by a single overhead lamp. At the end of the hallway directly in front of us was another door with a window in the middle, which allowed us to see through into the next car. There were people dressed in outfits similar to ours and swaying along to music that I could barely hear.

The Doctor suddenly stepped up behind me, his torso brushing against my back as he tried to get out of my way. "There were many trains to take the name Orient Express," he told us as he started for the other door, "but only one in space."

Clara stepped through the open doorway first, then myself with the Doctor right behind me. "Of course it is," she laughed as the Doctor closed the door behind us.

The Doctor moved to stand on my right side and I could see him watching Clara and I from the corner of my eye. On either side of the car was a line of plush red chairs with small tables beside them. At the far end was a bar and standing right beside it was a beautiful young woman with long black hair and a cream colored 1920s style dress. She was singing a familiar, jazzy song into an old microphone while a small band played next to her.

"Completely faithful recreation of the original Orient Express," the Doctor began explaining. "Except slightly bigger. And in space. Oh, and the rails are actually hyperspace ribbons. But in every other respect, identical. Painstaking attention to detail." A bald man with a steampunk eyepatch suddenly shouldered his way past the Doctor and I, bumping rudely into both of us as he walked away. The Doctor glared at the man as he rubbed his arm. "Most of the time."

The singer, who had a very beautiful voice, was swaying to the music as she sang. " _I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars, on a collision course. I am a satellite, I'm out of control. I'm a sex machine ready to reload. Like an atom bomb about to oh, oh, oh explode!_ "

"That song. It sounds familiar," I said softly. Turning to Clara, I asked, "Do you know it?"

"I think it's Queen," she said with a smile.

"The band?" I asked hesitantly.

"Diana, remind past me to teach you about classic rock," the Doctor said to me as his arm brushed against mine.

"Never heard this song _quite_ like this before though," Clara said with a somewhat sad smile. "It's nice."

Glancing past me at the other woman, the Doctor sighed. "You're doing it again," he said in frustration.

"Doing what?" Clara asked in confusion.

"The smile."

Clara laughed. "Yeah, I'm smiling."

"It's the _sad_ smile. It's a smile, but you're sad. It's confusing. It's like two emotions at once. It's like you're _malfunctioning_ ," the Doctor said, his voice suddenly tense and frustrated.

Clara's smile suddenly dropped and she looked away from the Doctor. "Sorry," she muttered.

Clara and the Doctor fell into awkward silence as I stood uncomfortably between them, still fiddling with my phone. The singer continued the song and I began looking around on my phone in an attempt to ignore the awkward atmosphere between the three of us.

The Doctor took a small breath as he awkwardly stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets. "I just thought this would be a good one to-"

"To end it," Clara interjected, nodding in agreement. "Yeah. It is. It's a good choice. A good one to end on."

"Yeah?" the Doctor asked. He looked almost worried, as if he wanted everything to be just right and he was afraid something wouldn't work out.

Clara smiled. "Yeah," she answered softly.

Lightly clearing my throat, I locked my phone and took a step back. Clara and the Doctor both looked curiously at me and I offered them an apologetic smile in return. "Sorry," I started, "I'm just gonna go back to the TARDIS."

"Why?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't really… I shouldn't be here. This is between the two of you," I said. "I'm just in the way."

"Of course you're not," Clara objected. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know, I just… I feel like I'm intruding on something."

The Doctor shook his head seriously. "You're not. This is a goodbye to Clara from both of us," he said.

Holding out his hand to me, the Doctor raised his eyebrows in a silent request to stay. After a few seconds of consideration, I slowly reached out and placed my hand in his. He smiled, a sad smile like Clara's, and pulled me closer to him as he moved my hand so it was resting in the bend of his elbow.

"Doctor?" Clara asked beside me, making the Time Lord and I turn towards her. She gestured towards the maid standing behind her with a tray lined with champagne glasses. "Do you want one?"

Smiling somewhat forcibly at the maid, the Doctor nodded. "Yes," he said slowly as he waved the maid over and took a glass. "Thank you."

The maid then turned to me and smiled, placing the tray directly in front of me. Not wanting to be rude, I reached out and took a glass as well. "Thank you," I said with a smile.

"You're welcome, miss," she said before turning away.

"Since when do you drink champagne?" Clara asked.

"I was being polite," I explained, glancing down at the glass.

"Alright you two," the Doctor interjected, "enough chit chat." He pointed to a chest height table across the car that was placed by a window. "There's a table just over here."

The Doctor guided me over to the table he had pointed out with Clara trailing along behind me. She came up on the Doctor's other side and leaned her elbows against the table. The music was still going in the background and I thought the lyrics were incredibly ironic considering the circumstances Clara and I were both in.

" _Just give me a call. Don't stop me now, don't stop me, I'm having a good time. I don't want to stop at all…_ "

As the music began to fade out, a voice began to speak from somewhere overhead. "Ladies and gentlemen," the voice began in a pleasant sounding monotone, "if you would be good enough to look from the windows on the right of the train, you'll be able to see the soaring majesty of the Magellan black hole."

Clara stood up on her toes to look over the table and out the window at the aforementioned view. I stepped away from the Doctor to look out at the beautiful, swirling colors as they gradually disappeared into a massive black hole.

"Oh, I remember when this was all planets as far as the eye could see," the Doctor sighed, sounding like an old man sitting on his porch back on Earth. "All gone now. Gobbled up by that beast." He looked to his right at Clara and sighed again. "And there's that smile again. I don't even know how you do that."

Clara smiled and then laughed before falling silent. She looked down at her glass of champagne and sighed, then looked out the window again. "I really thought I hated you, you know?" she said suddenly.

"Well, thank God you kept that to yourself," the Doctor grumbled with a barely restrained roll of his eyes. "There was this planet, Obsidian," he continued. "The planet of perpetual darkness-"

"I did," Clara interrupted. "I _did_ hate you. In fact, I hated you for weeks."

"Good, fine," the Doctor replied shortly. "Well, I'm glad that we cleared that up. There was also a planet that was made completely of shrubs."

"I went to a concert once." The Doctor sighed when he realized Clara wouldn't let him finish and looked out the window in frustration. "Can't remember who it was. But do you know what the singer said?"

"Frankly, that would be an absolutely astonishing guess if I did know," the Time Lord grumbled, making me smile just a little.

"She said, 'hatred is too strong an emotion to waste on someone that you don't like'."

The Doctor looked curiously at Clara. For a moment he looked almost relieved and somewhat surprised, but then he furrowed his brows at the other woman. "Were people really confused?" he asked. " 'Cause I'm confused. Did everybody leave?"

Clara laughed, shaking her head as she wrapped her arms around the Doctor's elbow. "Shush. Shut up," she scolded as she rested her cheek against his arm. "Look, what I'm trying to say is, I don't hate you. I could never hate you. But I can't do this any more. Not the way you do it."

I watched as the Doctor stood awkwardly next to Clara, not saying anything or even moving. He mouthed silently for a few moments before finally asking, "Can I talk about the planets now?"

Smiling, Clara nodded. "Yes," she whispered before releasing his arm and standing straight again. "Go."

The Doctor exhaled in relief. "Thedion Four," he began, glancing at me with a smile. "Constant acid rain. Had a lovely picnic there once wearing a gas mask."

"That's a lie."

I whirled around at the accusation and saw a blonde woman staring at the Doctor, Clara, and I. She was holding a champagne glass in her right hand and had a very distressed expression on her face.

"I-I'm sorry?" Clara asked.

"That's a lie, what you said," the woman repeated. "Thedion Four was destroyed thousands of years ago, so you couldn't have been there."

A man in uniform suddenly stepped forward, smiling politely at the strange woman as another man came up behind him. "Miss Pitt, are you sure you wouldn't rather rest in your room?" he asked.

The woman, Miss Pitt, pointed at the Doctor. "That man's a liar," she said.

"Perhaps you'd allow Mr. Carlyle here to escort you back," the man said as he gestured to his counterpart.

Miss Pitt looked uncertainly at the Doctor for a moment before nodding. "It'll be all right, miss," Mr. Carlyle said as he gestured to the door at the back of the car. "Just come with me."

Miss Pitt hurried towards the door, sparing the Doctor a glance before she left with the other man. The first man who had appeared nodded at us and smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that. I suppose it's understandable in the circumstances. Er, I don't believe we've been introduced. Captain Quell," he said, tipping his hat at Clara and I.

"I'm Clara. This is-"

"The Doctor. And my wife, Diana," the Doctor said as he gestured to me.

I smiled at Captain Quell, but didn't say anything. He nodded again before looking at the Doctor. "So, another doctor," he noted.

"I'm sorry?" Clara said.

"Well, we've got doctors and professors coming out of our ears on this trip. So, what are you a doctor of?" the captain asked.

"Now, there's a question that's never asked often enough," the Doctor said with an amused smile. "Let's say… intestinal parasites."

Captain Quell raised his eyebrows. "I'm beginning to think Miss Pitt was right about you."

He started to head for the same door Miss Pitt had left through when Clara asked, "What's wrong with her? Did something happen?"

"You don't know?" Quell asked.

* * *

Out in the adjoining corridor, the Doctor and Clara were walking alongside each other. I trailed along behind them in silence, not wanting or needing to say anything. It was terrible that Miss Pitt's grandmother had died so suddenly despite her age. I sipped absently on my champagne as I listened to Clara and the Doctor discuss what Captain Quell had said, wrinkling my nose at the odd taste.

"There's a body _and_ there's a mummy," Clara whispered excitedly. "I mean, can you not just get on a train? Did a wizard put a curse on you about mini-breaks?"

The Doctor shrugged. "It might be nothing. Old ladies die all the time. It's practically their job description."

"And the monster?"

The Doctor slowed to a halt in the middle of the hallway and turned to look at Clara, his fingers tapping lightly against his champagne glass. "Well, seen by no one except her, which suggests that it wasn't there. A dying brain, lack of oxygen, hallucinations. Anyway," he sighed, "people _do_ just die sometimes. She was over a hundred years old."

"Says the two thousand year old man," Clara smiled.

"Clara, you actually sound as if you want this to _be_ a thing," the Doctor said in exasperation. "Do you?"

"No. No, look, _fine_. You know, i-if you think that there is nothing to worry about, then that is fine by me," Clara said as she turned around, slowly walking towards me.

"Are you sure?"

Clara laughed softly. "Oh yes, I'm sure."

I took another, longer sip of champagne and started coughing when the somewhat bitter taste hit my tongue. Clara laughed when I made a disgusted face directed at my champagne glass. "Not really your drink, is it?" she teased.

I shook my head violently. " _No_ ," I grumbled.

Still smiling, Clara glanced back at the Doctor and suddenly froze. He was looking sadly at both of us as if it was the last time he would ever lay his eyes on us again. Clara's smile dropped as she realized that the Time Lord wouldn't be returning the smile.

Raising his glass, the Doctor nodded at Clara. "To our last hurrah."

"Our last, yeah," she agreed. "But, I mean, it's not like I'm never going to see you again."

The Doctor looked pointedly at her. "Isn't it?"

" _Is it?_ " Clara asked worriedly.

"I thought that's what you wanted."

Clara shook her head and walked quickly down the hall towards the Time Lord. "No. But… I mean, you're going to come round for dinner or something, aren't you? You and Diana?" I looked at Clara in confusion, wondering what made her think that the Doctor would ever do that. "Do you- do you do that? Do you come round to people's houses for dinner?"

The Doctor looked seriously at Clara, his face still tinted with sadness. "Of course. Why wouldn't I do that?"

"I don't know. I thought you might find it boring."

"Is it boring?"

"No," Clara replied quickly.

 _They don't want to say goodbye_ , I realized. _The way the Doctor's looking at her, it's like he's mourning her. He doesn't want her to leave. But he'd never just stop by her house for dinner. Not even for her._

Clara seemed to come to the same realization that I had. Her hopeful expression dropped and she put on a smile that was completely transparent. Raising her glass to the same height as the Doctor's, she said, "To the last hurrah."

The Doctor nodded and lightly clinked his glass against hers. "The last hurrah."

* * *

With the use of his psychic paper, the Doctor had managed to procure two rooms for us to stay in during the trip. It wasn't difficult to guess that the Doctor wanted me to share a room with him, but it was already difficult for me to stand beside him without feeling incredibly awkward and uncomfortable. Once we'd all been shown our rooms, Clara made sure to tell me that I was welcome to share a room with her.

"You can stay with her, you know," the Doctor said once Clara had said goodnight to us and gone inside her room. "I know that you need your space after-…"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"I know that it doesn't make up for what I did, but I am sorry."

"I know."

With a final farewell nod, I opened Clara's door and stepped inside her room. She smiled at me as I closed the door behind me and gestured to the large, wooden chest of drawers that was placed against one of the walls. "Diana, look!" she exclaimed. "There's pajamas in here."

"Pajamas?" I echoed in surprise.

"Yeah. Look." She picked up a pair of pajama pants. "They're _silk_."

"Why are there silk pajamas?" I wondered.

Clara shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm definitely not complaining."

Clara then started to unzip her dress and I quickly turned around so my back was facing her, waiting patiently for her to get dressed in the pajamas. Almost immediately after she'd changed clothes, her cell phone began ringing. Scrambling to finish the last button on her pajama shirt, Clara answered the phone with a hasty, "Hello?"

There was a pause and then, "Danny, hi."

I looked quizzically at the other woman. "Who's Danny?" I asked.

Clara moved the phone away from her mouth and said, "My boyfriend."

"You have a _boyfriend_?" I exclaimed incredulously.

"Yes. I have for a while."

"How do you have a boyfriend?"

"We met at work. He's a teacher at Coal Hill."

It took a moment, but I finally absorbed the new information about Clara's relationship status. "Huh. Learn something new every day," I mumbled.

Clara moved the phone so it was pressed against her cheek again. "Sorry, that was just Diana." Another pause. "Yeah, she hasn't met you yet, I don't think."

I sat down in one of the two chairs in the room as Clara walked over to the single bed, lying down on her stomach as she continued talking with her boyfriend. I messed around on my phone for a little bit, mostly ignoring Clara so I wouldn't intrude on her conversation. But after a few minutes I caught a few words that implied Clara and Danny were talking about personal matters.

Jumping to my feet, I flashed Clara an awkward smile. "Hey, sorry. I'm just gonna go for a walk, maybe get some food or another drink, okay?"

Clara nodded and went back to her conversation while I slipped out of the room. As I walked down the hall and past the Doctor's room, I could just make out the sound of the Time Lord talking. Smiling and shaking my head, I continued down the hallway and back to the car where the three of us had gotten our drinks when we first arrived. There wasn't any music playing this time and the only noise was the muddled conversations of all the people scattered throughout the car. I usually wasn't fond of noisy crowds, but it was a better option than awkwardly sitting in on Clara's one-sided conversation with her boyfriend or sharing a room with the Doctor.

I walked over to the bar and smiled shyly at the bartender. He was a tall, dark skinned man with short hair and a charming smile. "Hi," I said a little awkwardly. "Um, do you have anything that's not alcoholic?"

The bartender nodded and said in an American accent, "We've got at least a dozen virgin drinks, miss."

"Oh. Okay." I could feel my face start to flush with heat as I tried to think of what to order. "Um, I-I don't really know… Do you have water or something? Or soda?"

"What kind of soda would you like?"

"Uh, do you have Sprite? Or 7 Up? Or Sierra Mist?" I rambled.

The bartender smiled. "One Sierra Mist coming up," he laughed.

Half a minute later, the bartender placed a tall glass on the bar in front of me. I thanked him and then grabbed the glass, turning around to look at the rest of car in search of a seat. On the right hand side of the car were two empty chairs and I quickly walked over to one of them before either could be taken. The seat that I chose was closer to the bar and was angled so that I could see the entrance to the car.

Sipping slowly on my soda, I looked around at all the different people. People of all genders and races were sitting around the car, all happily chatting away or reading something while they sat. I glanced out the window on my right and felt my mouth drop open as the train went flying past a large, burning blue star. I watched the star in amazement as the train continued past it, occasionally sipping on my drink.

 _So Clara's got a boyfriend_ , I mused. _Danny… That name sounds familiar. I wonder why?_ I crossed my ankles and played absently with the fabric of my skirt, being careful not to let my phone slide off my lap. _I wish Clara wasn't leaving, though. She doesn't seem to want to go, but she also seems adamant that she stop traveling with the Doctor._

I was suddenly drawn out of my thoughts by a middle aged gentleman with a thin mustache stepping into my line of view. I started slightly and looked up at the man in surprise. "Excuse me, miss" he said politely, "but is this seat taken?"

I glanced at the seat across from me and shook my head. "No," I answered.

"Would you mind if I sat here?" he asked. He then gestured to the book tucked under his arm. "I won't bother you. I'm just here to read."

I smiled. "Sure. Go ahead."

The man nodded in thanks and sat down across from me, immediately opening his book and ignoring me completely. I awkwardly sipped from my glass and readjusted myself in the large, cushy seat. Grabbing my phone from its place on top of my knees, I began looking around on it again so I wouldn't end up making awkward eye contact with the stranger. I read through some of the messages that the TARDIS and I had exchanged, then looked through my photos.

I hadn't taken many photos since the Doctor gave me my new phone, but there were a few that brought a smile to my face. There were some pictures of a beautiful Gallifreyan sunset and of Mount Cadon, then a few pictures of myself, Martha, and Twelve. I smiled a little sadly when I found the pictures I had taken from my very first date with the Doctor, months ago when we visited the Quiraing.

 _I wish things were the way they were then_ , I thought sadly as I looked at a picture of the Doctor and I on top of the Quiraing. _I wish we could go back to just enjoying a night together without anything to worry about._

Letting out a resigned sigh, I placed my phone back on top of my thighs as I glanced out the train window again. The large blue star we had passed by earlier was just a burning dot in the distance. I finished the rest of my drink as I watched the inky blackness of space pass by, stars and galaxies with a multitude of swirling colors floating in the sky.

After my glass was emptied, I decided to get up and refill my drink. I asked the bartender if there was a car with any food, to which he handed me a small menu within a red leather folder. I looked over the black and gold font for a few minutes before shyly ordering something. Returning to my seat with my refilled glass, I went back to my phone while I waited for the food to arrive. It took less than ten minutes for my food to be prepared and a short, thin woman with long red hair was the one who gave me my meal on a silver tray. I thanked her for the food and then leaned back in my chair, my food resting on the round coffee table beside the chair.

I had barely finished my meal when I spotted a man enter the car from across the room. He recognized me immediately and walked over to me with surprise written on his face.

"Diana, what are you doing here?" the Doctor asked.

I gestured to my empty plate. "Eating. Clara was busy talking to her boyfriend and I didn't want to intrude, so I decided to get a drink and something to eat," I explained.

The Doctor then glanced at the man sitting across from me. "How did you find him?" he questioned.

"What?"

"That man. How did you find him?"

I shook my head in confusion. "I didn't," I answered slowly. "He just came over and asked if that seat was taken, I said no, and he sat down. I didn't _find_ him."

"Well you have incredible luck," the Doctor said, "because that's exactly the man I was looking for."

"Wha-"

"What's the most interesting thing about the Foretold?" the Doctor asked, pointing his finger at the stranger.

The man glanced up from his book, looking between the Doctor and I for a reason for the interruption. "I'm terribly sorry, I don't believe we've met."

"You know. The Foretold. Mythical mummy. Legend has it that if you see it, you're a dead man."

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" I asked.

The man lowered his book, promptly ignoring me. "Yes, I know what it is. You see, I happen to be-"

"Emil Moorhouse, professor of alien mythology. I'm the Doctor and this is my wife, Diana. Pleased to meet you." The Doctor held out his hand as he continued talking, waiting very impatiently for the other man to shake it. I waved shyly at the man as the Doctor moved to sit on the arm of my chair. "So, the most interesting thing about the Foretold. Go."

Professor Moorhouse closed his book and smiled politely at the Doctor. "Well," he began, "it would have to be the time limit given before it kills you. I can't think of another myth where it's so specific. How does it go?" He thought for a moment or two. "The number of evil twice over. They that bear the Foretold's stare have sixty six seconds to live."

The Doctor smiled patronizingly. "No, no, no. Nice try. Very atmospheric. But that's not it. Try again," he said.

Professor Moorhouse raised his eyebrows. "A cynical man might say that you were trying to pump me for information."

"The myth of the Foretold first appeared over five thousand years ago," the Doctor said. "In some stories, there is a riddle or secret word that is supposed to make it stop. Some characters try to bargain with it, offer riches, confess sins. All to no avail."

The professor leaned forward as the Doctor pulled a small case out of his coat pocket and offered it to the professor, opening it to reveal about a dozen jelly babies. "Well, you certainly know a little mythology," Professor Moorhouse said as he took a jelly baby.

"I know a lot," the Doctor grinned, offering me the case of jelly babies. "Because, from time to time, it turns out to be true."

I took a jelly baby and placed it on my tongue, smiling briefly at the Doctor in silent thanks. He took one for himself before snapping the case shut. I looked curiously at him, trying to figure out what he was doing. What was this Foretold that he was talking about and why did it even matter? Just then, the lights throughout the car started flickering for a few seconds before returning to normal.

"But that's the great appeal, isn't it?" the professor said. "Earth legends are such dry, dusty affairs, and always fiction. But up here, in the stars, anything's possible. That's why I chose this field, to be honest. Hoping one day I might meet a real monster."

The Doctor smiled again, not even trying to hied the fact that it was entirely false. "Isn't that everyone's dream? But you still haven't answered my riddle," he sighed. "What's the most interesting thing about the Foretold?"

"Well, you can't run from it, that's for sure. There are accounts of people trying, but it never works. No matter how far you run, it's always right there behind you."

The Doctor shook his head. "Nope. Even colder."

 _What is he trying to ask?_ I wondered. _I don't understand._

Professor Moorhouse seemed to think the same thing because he furrowed his brows in confusion and shook his head. "All right, I give up," he said. "You tell me."

"Mrs. Pitt, the old woman who died."

"She died of old age," the professor laughed. "Nothing supernatural."

"No. That's my answer," the Doctor told him.

Professor Moorhouse glanced uncertainly at me and I shrugged slightly. "Her death?" he asked as he looked back at the Doctor.

He shook his head. "No. The fact that you were here to witness it." Glancing over his shoulder, the Doctor suddenly grabbed at my wrist and stood up. "Excuse us, Professor." After pulling me up after him, the Doctor said to me, "Come on."

I looked over to where the Doctor had glanced a second ago and saw a group of people by the bar, talking worriedly to each other. "Doctor, what's going on?" I asked as the Time Lord dragged me over to the crowd.

"I'll explain later."

The Doctor tightly grabbed my hand and pulled me after him as he dashed past the small crowd and out of the car. I kept my phone grasped firmly in my other hand and tried my best to keep up with the Doctor as he rushed down the adjoining corridor.

"Doctor," I sighed, "where are we going?"

"I need to see the captain."

"Why?"

The Doctor skidded to a halt and suddenly turned towards me, his face looming over mine. "Because I need his help if I'm going to stop the murders."

" _Murders?_ " I exclaimed. "What murders? Doctor, what the hell is going on?"

"There's a mummy on this train, a monster that only the people who are about to die can see. Weren't you listening just now? I thought the professor explained everything."

I shook my head. "I have no idea what is going on or how you even know what this mummy thing is. And what makes you think there's been murders? I thought only one person died, that older woman. Mrs. Pitt's grandmother."

"Two people have died."

"Two? When did the second person die?" I asked.

"Less than five minutes ago. So we'd better hurry," the Doctor said before starting off down the hallway again, my hand still clutched tightly in his.

"But I don't understand!" I exclaimed.

"That's okay!" he shouted over his shoulder. "I don't quite understand everything yet either, but I'm sure I'll sort it all out soon!"

 **A/N: Please please please _please_ review!**


	22. The Mummy on the Orient Express: Part 2

_"Two people have died."_

 _"Two? When did the second person die?" I asked._

 _"Less than five minutes ago. So we'd better hurry," the Doctor said before starting off down the hallway again, my hand still clutched tightly in his._

 _"But I don't understand!" I exclaimed._

 _"That's okay!" he shouted over his shoulder. "I don't quite understand everything yet either, but I'm sure I'll sort it all out soon!"_

The Doctor ended up dragging me halfway across the train in search of the captain. When we finally did find the captain, he was walking down a corridor with two other guards walking along in front of him. Still pulling me along behind him, the Doctor spoke up. "I think we need to talk," he said.

The captain stopped mid stride and turned around to look at us. "This matter does not concern the passengers," he said in as polite a voice as he could manage.

"We're not passengers." The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper with his free hand and passed it to Captain Quell. "We're your worst nightmare."

The captain sighed heavily as he read over the psychic paper. "A mystery shopper?" he groaned. "Oh great."

The Doctor furrowed his brows in confusion. "Really? That's your worst-?" One look from me stopped the Time Lord before he could finish his sentence. "Okay, I'm a mystery shopper. My wife could do with a few extra pillows and I'm very disappointed with your breakfast bar. And all of the dying."

* * *

The Doctor somehow managed to convince Captain Quell to open up to us about the last death, which had been one of the staff members who worked as a cook. Captain Quell invited me to sit at one of the two chairs in front of his desk. The Doctor remained standing and walked around the captain's office, looking at some of the plaques and certificates that were hanging on the walls.

"This is not exactly within your job description," Captain Quell said as he reached for a bottle of whiskey on his desk.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Come on, Captain. Where would we all be if we all followed our job descriptions, hm? Good question. Glad you asked. In your case, you'd be doing something instead of climbing inside a bottle," he snapped while the captain poured out a drink for each of us.

I immediately turned around in my seat to glare up at the Doctor. "Hey," I scolded, " _don't_ be rude."

"I have followed the procedure for accidental death to the letter," the captain said defensively.

"Yes, I'm sure you have," the Doctor countered. "And I'm sure you do just enough of your job to avoid complaints."

Captain Quell shook his head. "You don't know anything about me."

Gesturing to the plaques and certificates on the wall, the Doctor smiled knowingly. "Wounded in battle, honorable discharge. And this is just a guess, but I think you've had the fight knocked out of you. You expected this to be a cushy desk job where you could put your head down until retirement. Well, I'm sorry. As of today, that dream is over."

I stood up and faced the Doctor head on, my hands placed firmly on my hips. "I said, don't be rude."

"What, and just let him get away with doing nothing?" he asked me.

"You're offending him. Just because he's not running around being an arrogant ass doesn't mean he's not trying to help. He was a soldier, the least you could do is show him some respect," I snapped.

The Doctor seemed to back down slightly as soon as I said that, but he still gave Captain Quell an angry glance. The captain took a sip from his glass and sat down at his desk. "Look, Doctor, there is no evidence of any attack or other parties-"

"Yes, let's just sit around and wait for the evidence while the bodies pile up!" the Doctor exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air out of frustration. "Or here's a crazy thought: we could do something to stop it." Looking hopefully at the captain, the Doctor waited for a moment before his face fell and he shook his head. "Why am I even talking to you?" he asked before turning and storming out of the room.

I turned back around and shook my head. "Captain, I am so sorry," I apologized. "I didn't think he would be so rude." Glancing back at the door, I grimaced slightly. "Look, I have to go. I'm sorry, but please just ignore him. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He had no right to say those things to you."

I hurried out of the room and into the adjoining corridor, running right into another person. It was a man about the same height as the Doctor, middle aged, and wearing an outfit that resembled an old train engineer's. I bumped right into his chest, causing three large rolls of paper to fall out of his arms and making me drop my phone.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry!"

"It's perfectly alright, miss," the man said, flashing me a smile.

"I'm sorry," I said again. "Here, let me get those for you."

I quickly knelt down and scooped up the papers, as well as my phone, then handed them to the man with an awkward smile. He took the papers out of my hands and smiled kindly at me. "Thank you, miss."

The Doctor, who I hadn't noticed at first, was standing off to the side a little and watching the exchange in silence. I glanced curiously at him, wondering why he was just watching and not saying or doing anything.

"What?" I asked after a few seconds.

"Nothing," he sighed with a shake of his head. He looked to the man and nodded. "Perkins, what do you have?"

Perkins glanced hesitantly at me. "What about the young lady?" he wondered.

"She's my wife. Now go ahead."

He extended the papers to the Doctor. "Passenger manifest, plan of the train, and a list of stops for the past six months," he said proudly.

The Doctor nodded. "Quick work, Perkins." He paused. "Maybe too quick."

Perkins' eyes widened and he smirked. "Yes, sir," he gasped. "I'm _obviously_ the mummy. Or perhaps I was already looking into this."

Realizing that Perkins was being sarcastic, the Doctor rolled his eyes. Waving at the both of us, the Doctor started down the corridor with the rolls of paper in hand. Perkins gestured for me to walk in front of him, but didn't say anything. I wanted to ask where we were going, but didn't want to talk to the Doctor after what he had just said to the captain and didn't know Perkins well enough to comfortably talk to him. So I stayed silent instead, hoping that I'd be able to figure it out on my own.

The Doctor led Perkins and I through the corridor to a large, mostly empty room. The only objects in there were a long desk cluttered with papers, a few security screens above it, and some other things on the floor covered up by gray sheets. The Doctor immediately began spreading out the various papers he had been given, intently looking over them all. Hardly a minute later, he looked to Perkins and gestured to the screens over the desk.

"I need to see the security video footage each death so far. Right now. Go!" he exclaimed.

Perkins nodded and began typing frantically on a keyboard placed on the desk. The Doctor suddenly bolted out of the room without a single word. Perkins and I glanced at each other in confusion and Perkins shrugged his shoulders as he continued working at the keyboard. A few minutes later, one of the screens flickered to life and showed footage of Miss Pitts and an older woman sitting at a table. The Doctor suddenly reappeared at the doorway with Professor Moorhouse standing just behind him.

The Doctor brushed past me and looked up at the screen, hurriedly reaching a hand into his trouser pocket to pull out a silver stopwatch. He nodded at Perkins and the video began playing. The lights in the video footage flickered and the Doctor started the watch, his gaze fixed solely on the screen. The older woman, who could only have been Miss Pitt's grandmother, was at first just annoyed by the appearance of what she guessed was someone dressed up as a "monster", although none of us watching the footage could see anything. Then she began panicking and screaming, flailing her arms and sinking low in her seat as she cried out. Finally, she fell silent and fell back in her seat.

The Doctor stopped the watch. "Sixty six seconds," he noted. "It fits the myth." He looked to Professor Moorhouse, who had moved dos and beside me. "Did you see the lights flicker?"

The professor nodded. "Yes," he said slowly.

"The lights went in the kitchen as well just before the chef saw it," Perkins added.

Professor Moorhouse thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "In all of the accounts, conventional weapons have no effect on the Foretold. It's immortal, unstoppable, unkillable."

Perkins and the Doctor shared a look and Perkins said, "Er, can we get a new expert?"

* * *

I was awakened suddenly by Perkins shaking my shoulder. Jerking up with a gasp, I looked around in confusion. Perkins grabbed my wrist and pulled me to my feet, shouting, "Come on! The Doctor's been arrested!"

" _What?_ " I exclaimed as I stumbled along after Perkins. "What happened? Did I fall asleep?"

Perkins nodded as he dragged me out of the room and down the corridor. "Yes. We all did. And while we were all sleeping, the Doctor went and got himself arrested."

Perkins and I stumbled into another train car, the same one where the Doctor and I had first met Professor Moorhouse. We made it just in time to see a young man in a guard's uniform scream in terror and then slump over a chair, unconscious. The passengers in the car were all cowering behind furniture and I could just make out the scent of gunpowder in the air. The Doctor, Captain Quell, and two other guards were huddled together on one side of the car, watching in shocked silence as a man in a white coat hurried over to the unconscious man and looked for a pulse. A few moments later, the man looked at the captain and shook his head.

"It turns out it's three," the captain suddenly said as he turned to the Doctor. "The amount of people that had to die before I stopped looking the other way."

One of the guards stepped forward and unlocked a pair of handcuffs that had previously been locked around the Doctor's wrists. "Thank you," the Doctor said as he rubbed his wrists.

Perkins walked towards the Doctor and put a hand on his elbow, drawing the Time Lord's attention. The Doctor looked at him, then glanced at me as I stepped up beside Perkins. "Same as the others?" Perkins asked.

Three guards came up behind us and carried the body away, much to my relief. The Doctor suddenly stepped forward into the small opening that was left behind after the body had been removed.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the Time lord began, "could I have a moment of your time, please?" Perkins and I looked curiously at each other, neither of us seeming to know what the Doctor was doing. "There's a monster on this train that can only be seen by those about to die. If you do see it, you will have exactly sixty six seconds left in which to live. But that isn't even the strangest thing. Do you know what is? You," he said, gesturing to the other people standing around us. "The passengers. Experts in alien biology, mythology, physics. If I was putting together a team to analyze this thing, I'd pick you. And I think somebody has. Someone of immense power and influence has orchestrated this whole trip. Someone who I have no doubt is listening to us right now." The Doctor looked up at the ceiling, then started to turn around as he looked all around the car. "So, are you going to step out from behind the curtain and give us our orders?"

Perkins suddenly spoke up then. "The engines. They've stopped," he said lowly.

The lights flickering briefly as the doors on either end of the car suddenly closed and locked. The furnishings and decorations in the car suddenly disappeared and the car transformed from a lounge into a mini laboratory, complete with computer screens and equipment that I had never seen before.

The Doctor smiled. "And the facade drops away because what use are a bunch of scientists without a lab?"

With sudden pop, half of the passengers in the car disappeared into thin air. Perkins looked to the Doctor in confusion. "Teleporter?" he asked.

The Doctor thought for a moment. "No. Hard light holograms. They were never really here. Fake passengers to make up the numbers."

"That was my best guard!" Captain Quell exclaimed, pointing to an empty space where a guard had once stood.

"Good morning, everyone!" announced the same overhead voice from earlier. "Around the room you will find a variety of scientific equipment. Your goal is to ascertain the Foretold's true nature, probe for weaknesses with a view to capture, after which we will reverse engineer its abilities. Isn't this exciting?"

I looked to the Doctor, startled. "Doctor, what is that?" I asked.

"Computer," he said. Looking up at the ceiling again, the Doctor raised his eyebrows at the unseen voice. "You said capture, implying that you can't control this thing. And yet somehow you got it on board. How?"

"There is an artifact, an ancient scroll. I have highlighted it for your convenience." Across the room where the bar once stood, a spotlight shone on an ancient Egyptian scroll that had been pinned against the wall. "For reasons currently unknown, the Foretold appears in the vicinity of this artifact."

"And kills at regular intervals," the Doctor finished for the computer.

Captain Quell reached for the gun in his hip holster. "Then just maybe we should throw this thing out in the airlock," he suggested as he marched across the car to rip the scroll off of the wall.

"No, no, no!" the Doctor exclaimed.

The captain receive an electric shock to the hand the moment he touched the scroll, making him cry out and jump away from the wall.

"Looks like they've thought of that," Perkins noted, his hands in his trouser pockets.

"What if we say no?" Professor Moorhouse asked. "Down tools. Refuse to work."

"That is your choice, of course," the computer replied. "But it would be very upsetting were you all to die at the hands of the Foretold."

Perkins smiled bitterly. "So hurry up, before it kills you."

"But even if they agree to this, how are they supposed to study a creature that they can't even see?" the Doctor asked. "We don't even know what the species is." He had barely finished his sentence when the lights overhead flickered the same way they had in the security video. The Doctor turned to Perkins and gestured hurriedly to him. "Perkins, start the clock!"

In a shaky voice, Professor Moorhouse said, "Approximately one point eight meters tall." Everyone looked at him in shock as we realized that he was the next victim of the creature. "Actually, seeing it in the flesh isn't _nearly_ as rewarding as I thought it might be."

The Doctor's face fell. "Oh, dear," he mumbled. But he quickly recovered from the realization and gestured for the professor to continue. "What can you see? Details."

"Oh, yes. Yes, of course, of course," the professor stammered as he reached into his coat pocket for his glasses. "Well, it just looks like… a man in bandages."

"What kind of bandages?" the Doctor asked. "Old? New?"

"Old."

"Whole? Ragged?"

"Ragged! Falling off in places- I don't know what you want me to tell you!" Professor Moorhouse exclaimed.

"Listen to me! _You_ can see this thing. _We_ can't. Tell us what you can see. Even the smallest detail might help save the next one," the Doctor said.

The professor was about to continue his explanation when the Doctor's words finally registered. "The next one?" he echoed. "You mean you can't save me?"

"Well, that is implied, isn't it?" the Doctor countered flippantly. "Yes, this is probably the end for you. But make it count! Details, please."

Professor Moorhouse looked back at what I assumed was the mummy, although I couldn't see anything. "Flesh," he said quickly. "Some of it is visible-"

"Thirty seconds," Perkins interjected.

"Er, leathery. Ancient looking. Peat bog preserved."

"Keep talking," the Doctor urged. "Don't waste this chance!"

The professor suddenly took his glasses off. "I want to bargain for my life," he said.

The Doctor stammered in confusion. "W-What?"

"It says, some of the myths say if you- if you find the right word, if you make the right offer, then it lets you go."

"This is not a myth! This is real. Forget your superstitions!" the Doctor shouted. "Tell us what you can see!"

Professor Moorhouse shook his head. "This is _my_ life, _my_ death! I'm going to fight for it how _I_ want!" He looked directly in front of himself, where I assumed the mummy was, and began frantically offering things. "Er, I-I give you-"

"Ten seconds," Perkins interjected.

"My soul. I confess all sins. I give you all my worldly goods! Only _pleasepleaseplease_ \- No!" Professor moorhouse cried before falling to the floor.

"Zero," Perkins said softly.

I stared in shock at the professor's body, not even daring to move. The computer began speaking again, but I only heard half of what it said. All I could think about was the man who lay dead in front of me.

"We apologize for any distress you may have just experienced," the computer said. "Grief counseling is available on request. On the bright side, I'm sure you've all collected a lot of data. Well done, everyone!"

"It's recording every death," Perkins said.

The Doctor shook his head in frustration. "Of course it is. That's why we're here. To study our own demise." He turned around to face the other passengers and clapped his hands together. "So let's get to work. Come on. Chop, chop."

I was still frozen, staring at Professor Moorhouse's body in shock. The Doctor was suddenly standing in front of me, blocking my view of the body as he gently grasped my elbow. His other hand rested on my cheek and guided my face so I was looking up at him.

"Diana?" He gazed worriedly at me. "Are you okay?"

"I-I… I don't know."

"Diana, listen to me," he said seriously. "Everything is going to be okay. I promise. You, me, and Clara are going to be fine. I don't want you to be scared."

"But… we don't even know what it is," I whispered, "or how it chooses. What if I'm next? Or you? Or Clara? We don't even know how to stop it."

"Yet. We don't know how to stop it _yet_." I started to look away from the Doctor and at the professor's body, but the Doctor quickly cupped my chin in his hand and forced me to look only at him. "No. You'll only upset yourself."

"But-"

"You couldn't have stopped this. There is nothing that you could have done, so don't be angry with yourself. Don't dwell on it." The Doctor suddenly grabbed my hand, dropping his other hand from my face as he pulled me along after him. He guided me over to one of the computers that was placed on a desk that was attached to the car wall. "Focus on helping me," he said.

I looked straight at the computer screen, my hands automatically moving to rest on top of the keyboard. "What do you need me to do?" I asked.

The Doctor thought for a moment, his brows furrowed as he chewed absently on his bottom lip. "What do all the victims have in common?" he asked. "Age, ethnicity, planet of origin, social status, relationship status, medical history. Anything, _everything_ that could possibly connect them _._ Can you do that?"

I glanced at the Time Lord and nodded. "Yes."

The Doctor smiled. "Good," he said, his fingers brushing lightly against the top of my hand. He lightly squeezed my hand before stepping past me to speak in hushed tones with Perkins.

I started working immediately, throwing myself into researching the victims and making sure I didn't focus on Professor Moorhouse's death. The computer already had a list of all four victims with folders attached to their names. Each folder contained all the information the Doctor had asked for and after opening the folder for the very first victim, I began reading through it and taking notes on my phone. The Doctor was talking to the other passengers, looking over the data they had gathered after the professor's death and comparing it to the smaller amount of data that they had on the other deaths.

I had just started reading through the third victim's folder when the sound of a phone ringing began echoing through the train car. The Doctor pulled my cell phone out of his coat pocket and answered it. "Clara Oswald," he said, smiling as he walked over to me.

"Hey, that's my phone!" I exclaimed.

"I borrowed it when you fell asleep," the Time Lord replied with a grin.

I couldn't hear what Clara was saying on the other end of the call and instead had to guess what was happening by what the Doctor responded with.

"Yes. It's where they want us to put the Foretold if we capture it," he said.

"Where who wants us to put what?" I asked in confusion.

"Hush," he instructed before listening to Clara again. "Sorry. Teeny bit busy round here. What else?"

"Please terminate your call and return to work," the computer suddenly requested.

The Doctor rolled his eyes at the ceiling and continued listening to Clara. "So, we're not the first," he said after a few seconds.

"Please terminate your call and return to work," the computer asked again. The Doctor continued to ignore the computer and listen solely to Clara. "Please terminate the call and return to work."

Captain Quell walked over to the window and gasped when he looked outside. "I think you should do as it says," he said to the Doctor.

The Doctor looked over at the window and froze when he saw what the rest of the passengers had already seen. I left my place by the computer and walked over to the window, only to gasp in shock when I saw a bunch of kitchen utensils and three men in chef uniforms floating past the window outside.

I stumbled back in shock with my hands clamped tightly over my mouth. The Doctor came up behind me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, then pulled me against his chest. I turned away from the window and buried my face in his coat.

"Clara, I have to go," he said before finally ending his call. He pocketed the phone and gently placed a hand on the back of my head. "It's okay," he whispered.

The computer began speaking again. "I'm sorry. I know that must have been distressing for you. But if you are disobedient again, I will decompress another area containing less valuable passengers."

The Doctor's hand slipped to my shoulder as he looked up at the ceiling, addressing the computer. "Less valuable passengers?" he questioned. Glancing down at me, he gently cupped my cheek in his hand. "Are you okay?"

I nodded and pulled away slightly. "Yeah."

Pressing a kiss to the crown of my head, the Doctor released his hold on me and stepped back to give me some space. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "How does it choose?" he wondered.

Perkins shrugged. "Well, I'm assuming qualifications-"

The Doctor shook his head. "No, no, no. Not the computer, the Foretold. How does it choose who to kill? We've assumed it's random. What if it's not?" The Doctor looked at me and snapped his fingers as if something had just occurred to him. "Diana! You were reading about the victims. Were there any similarities? Anything to connect them?"

Everybody's attention was suddenly focused on me and I immediately looked down at the floor to avoid their pointed stares. "I only got through the first three victims," I said, "but so far there's nothing. They don't have anything in common with each other socially, personally, or medically other than the fact that the all came from Earth. Only Mrs. Pitt and the cook were white, so it can't be anything to do with ethnicity."

"What about medically?" the Doctor asked. "What were their medical histories like?"

"Um, the first victim, Mrs. Pitt, was old and was only being kept alive by a life support machine. The second and third victims were young and in shape. There wasn't anything wrong with them. Well," I added after I thought for a moment, "the cook, the second victim? He was sick, but it wasn't anything contagious. It was some kind of blood disease."

"It wasn't a disease, it was a rare blood disorder," the captain said from his spot across the car. "He wouldn't have infected anyone, but we kept it quiet because he happened to work with food."

The Doctor looked back at me. "And the third? The guard?"

"There wasn't any kind of illness or disorder that I saw in his medical records."

Captain Quell shook his head. "He wasn't ill as such, but he did have synthetic lungs implanted last year."

Perkins, who had been reading over the professor's folder on my computer screen, suddenly spoke up. "It says here that Professor Moorhouse suffering from regular panic attacks after a car crash last year."

"It's picking off the weakest first," the Doctor said. "Sensing the illness somehow. The fake organs, even psychological issues. But this is good news, because it means we can work out who is next." He suddenly turned to face the other passengers. "I want the medical records of everybody alive who is still on board. If anyone's had as much as a cold, I want to know about it."

The Doctor started walking across the car and Captain Quell hurried after him, hooking a hand around his elbow and pulling the Time Lord back. He stepped closer to the Doctor as he whispered, "You really think it can sense psychological issues?"

"It seems so. Why?"

The captain sighed and released his grip on the Doctor's elbow as I came walking up to stand beside the pair. "When you said I'd lost the stomach for a fight, I wasn't wounded in battle as such, but…" He paused for a moment. "My unit was bombed. I was the sole survivor. Not a scratch on me. Post-traumatic stress. Nightmares. Still can't sleep without pills."

"Which means that you are probably next," the Doctor said softly. Upon seeing the captain's distressed expression, he hastily added, "Which is good to know."

Captain Quell scoffed. "Well, not for me!"

"Well, of course not for you, because you're going to die. But I mean for us, from a research point of view-"

"You know for a doctor, your bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired!" the captain exclaimed as the Doctor began to walk away.

I marched after him and snag the corner of his coat. "Doctor, isn't there something we can do?" I asked.

The Doctor stopped and looked over his shoulder at me, glanced briefly at Captain Quell before answering, "I'm afraid not. We still don't know enough about it to-" The overhead lights began flickering again and the Doctor looked back at Captain Quell, who was staring in horror at a spot across the car. "Well, there's goes our head start. Perkins, start the clock!"

The Doctor then hurried over to the captain. "What can you see?" he asked.

The captain shook his head. "Almost feels out of focus… Gives me a headache just looking at it." He suddenly reached for the gun holstered at his hip and aimed it at the empty space he had been staring at.

"No, no, no, no!" the Doctor exclaimed. "That didn't work before!"

"What kind of soldier would I be, dying with bullets in my gun?" Captain Quell asked before firing his gun.

I recoiled into the Doctor's chest with a partial scream and he put his arms around me, turning me away from the gunfire and out of harm's way. Two bullets whizzed past us and shattered a pair of glass beakers on a countertop across the car.

"Fifty seconds," Perkins said.

"Someone shut that man up!" the captain shouted. He composed himself and then looked at the Doctor. "For the record, it didn't even flinch."

"Where is it now?" the Time Lord asked.

"Approximately twenty feet in front of me and closing."

Perkins raised his voice again. "Forty seconds."

The Doctor pushed away from me and ran to the center of the car, looking straight at Captain Quell. "Am I close?"

The captain's eyes widened. "It's passing right through you," he muttered. "Like a ghost."

Perkins, who I just noticed was holding some kind of scanner in his hand, shook his head in confusion as he looked at some kind of tablet held in his other hand. "It's not a hologram."

"If you move, will it follow?" the Doctor questioned.

The captain laughed humorlessly. "Do you want me to move? Because I can certainly do that."

"Keep looking at it, but back off quick as you like!"

Captain Quell shuffled back in a hurry and then stopped. "It's teleported away." He spun around, trying to find the creature. "Now it's behind me."

"Twenty seconds," Perkins said.

"I think this is it," the captain said as he stood frozen in place. "Still, suppose it's not a bad way to go. Blood pumping, enemy at the gates and all that." He turned his head so he could see the Doctor and I. "And thank you, Doctor, Miss, for waking me up." Looking forward again, he took a deep and shaky breath. "It's reaching for me. Hands on my head-"

"Zero."

Captain Quell cried out in pain before falling over, dead. Two of the other passengers brushed past the Doctor and I and began inspecting the body. I turned away so I didn't have to see the captain that I had already started to grow fond of lying dead in front of me. The Doctor, however, was already back to work.

"Teleporter," he mumbled. "That means tech. Then sixty six seconds to do what? Sixty six seconds. That seems very, very specific. Too specific for organic," he ranted. "So what, more tech? What? More? A countdown clock? Something charging?"

"A man just died in front of us!" Perkins exclaimed. "Can we not just have a moment?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No. No, no, no. We _can't_ do that. We _can't_ mourn," he replied. "People with guns to their heads, they _cannot_ mourn. We do not have _time_ to mourn. Everybody, what takes sixty six seconds to charge up or to change state? Anyone? Am I surrounded by idiots?" He sighed in exasperation. "If only I could see this thing."

" _Doctor!_ " I snapped.

Perkins stepped forward with a finger pointed at the Time Lord. "Don't even joke about that."

"I'm not joking about it. One minute with me and this thing, it would be over!"

"Doctor," I repeated, "shut up."

He looked to me in surprise. "Diana, I thought you at least would understand."

"Of course I do. You're right, we can't mourn," I said. "But don't ever say that. Please."

"You know, Doctor," Perkins interjected, "I can't tell if you're a genius or just incredibly arrogant."

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, on a good day I'm both-." He stopped mid sentence and slowly looked back at Perkins with a look of understanding. "Ancient tech. This thing has been around for centuries," he realized. "How? Tech that keeps it alive. Tech that drains energy from the living." He snapped his fingers at Perkins. "Scanner."

Perkins handed him the scanner and we all stepped back as the Doctor used it to scan Captain Quell's body. As soon as he finished scanning the body, the Doctor tossed the scanner back to Perkins.

"Deep tissue scan," he explained. "He's been leached of almost all energy on a cellular level. The heart attack is just a- is just a side effect."

Perkins looked over the readings on the scanner and nodded. "Oh, it's not just a mummy, it's a vampire. Metaphorically speaking," he added quickly.

"But why take sixty six seconds to drain us?" the Doctor asked, half to himself and half to the rest of us. "Why not just pounce?"

Perkins thought for a moment. "Phase," he whispered. "Moving energy out of phase. That takes about a minute, doesn't it?"

The Doctor smiled and nodded. "That's why only the victims can see it. It takes them out of phase so it can drain their energy. You, sir, are a genius! This explains everything!" His smiled dropped. "Apart from what it is and how it's doing it. Sorry, I jumped the gun there with the 'you're a genius, that explains everything' remark."

One of the other passengers, an attractive dark skinned woman with a tablet in hand, stepped forward and showed her tablet to Perkins. His eyes widened and he brought the tablet over to the Doctor. "Doctor," he said seriously, "I think we know the next victim."

The Doctor looked down at the tablet and nodded. "Ah, of course. That makes perfect sense."

* * *

The Doctor used my phone to call Clara, explaining the situation as quickly as he could. "It's likely, very likely, that your friend is the mummy's next victim." There was a pause before he responded, "Clara, it doesn't care. Her bad day, her bereavement, her little breakdown puts her squarely in its cross hairs. She's next."

I could barely hear Clara's muffled reply and shuffled closer to the Doctor in an attempt to hear her better. The Doctor shook his head as he answered, "This thing can teleport. We need her here. Even the computer agrees."

Another pause. "Of course not," the Doctor scoffed. "Why would you think that? This is another chance to observe it in action." His face had turned surprisingly cold and hard. "Of course, as it kills her. If it happens in there, it'll be a waste. So bring her to us."

"Doctor!" I scolded. "What are you doing?"

He shushed me and then said to Clara, "Well, I don't know. Lie to her. Tell her I can save her. Whatever it takes to get her here." He ended the call and then shoved my phone back into his trouser pocket. He turned on me and his serious, almost angry face loomed over me. "I'm doing what I have to, Diana. You don't have to like it."

I stared incredulously at the Time Lord. "What happened?" I asked. "You were fine two minutes ago and now you're angry and you suddenly don't care-"

"I'm doing what has to be done. If Miss Pitts dies in there, then she won't be of any use to us. I need her here to analyze the results and try to save the next person and the next and the next."

"But you used to care about saving people."

The Doctor sighed. "There's only so much that I can do."

"But you just said- You told Clara to lie about being able to save her. Are you not even going to try?"

"What do you think I'm trying to do, Diana?" he asked. "I'm doing the best that I can."

I shook my head in frustration. "But… You're making Clara lie. You're giving Miss Pitts hope that she's going to live when she's really just going to die scared and alone and surrounded by strangers."

The Doctor pursed his lips. "What, like my metacrisis self?" he snapped.

"Now that you mention it, yeah." All the thoughts of the metacrisis Doctor, Donna, and Bad Wolf Bay that I had pushed away when people started dying suddenly came rushing to the front of mind. Every bitter thought and feeling was swelling in my chest. "I guess you really have a thing for lying to the people you care about. I'm just glad I'm not the next one on the list because I don't need you lying to me again about something important to me."

"For Rassilon's sake, Diana, I'm not going to lie to you if you're about to die!"

"How the hell do I know that? You think it's okay to lie to me about the man I love, so why not lie about the fact that I'm gonna die?"

"It's not even the same thing!" the Doctor shouted.

"Well you lie to everyone else you meet, I guess lying to me isn't that much of a stretch," I countered.

The Doctor groaned in frustration and shook his head. "Why can't you just understand what I did and not be angry at me for it?" he asked. "You knew it was going to happen! You shouldn't be _this_ upset about something you knew was going to happen!"

"Just because I knew it was going to happen doesn't mean I'm not allowed to feel angry about it! Just because I know my daughter is going to die, it doesn't stop me from wanting to burst into tears every time I see her! Just because I knew that Amy and Rory were going to be taken by angels, it didn't stop me from doing whatever I could to stop it despite the fact that it was a _fixed point!_ " I shook my head as I looked incredulously at the Time Lord. "I know what happens to almost every single one of your companions, but knowing what happens doesn't make it hurt any less. Knowing doesn't make it any easier. So of course I'm still gonna be angry about it because even back home, I hated what you did. I thought it was selfish and wrong and you should have let her die as herself instead of taking away the parts of her that mattered. And I'm never going to change my mind about that."

Before either of us could say anything more, the door across the car suddenly opened with a hiss of air and Clara and Miss Pitts walked through the open doorway. Miss Pitts was wearing a pair of pale yellow pajamas embroidered with tiny blue and red flowers along the hem.

"Hello again," the woman said as she stepped forward to shake the Doctor's hand, smiling kindly at him. "I'm Maisie."

The Doctor smiled forcibly. "Good for you," he said as he escorted Maisie back across the car to where Perkins and I stood waiting.

Clara followed behind them. "We passed the TARDIS on the way here," she told him. "Thought about getting inside, hiding, pulling the levers and hoping for the best. But we couldn't even get in. There was a forcefield around it."

The Doctor grabbed the scanner from Perkins and began walking around Maisie, the scanner aimed at her head. "It's probably the computer trying to block our escape route," he answered.

"But how does he even know what it is?" Clara asked. " 'Cause if he knows what it is, then he knows what you are."

The Doctor stopped scanning Maisie and stepped past her towards the wall where the scroll was placed. "Well," he began slowly as he fiddled with the scanner, "he has tried to entice me here before. Free tickets, mysterious summons, he even phoned the TARDIS once. Do you know how difficult a number-"

"You knew," Clara hissed, advancing on the Time Lord with her eyes burning angrily. "You _knew_ this was no relaxing break. You _knew_ this was dangerous."

"I didn't _know_. I certainly _hoped_ ," the Doctor replied.

Clara shook her head. "Okay, this. You see? This. _This_ is why I'm leaving you. _This_. Because you lied. You lied to me _again_ ," she snapped, momentarily making me wonder what the Doctor had lied to her about previously. "And now you've made me lie. You've made me your… accomplice."

Maisie walked over to Clara like a lost puppy dog, her eyes wide and worried. "What? Sorry? When did you lie?" she asked. "Clara?"

Clara glared silently at the Doctor for a few seconds before slowly turning towards the other woman. She smiled apologetically. "Maisie, I am- I am so sorry."

The lights overhead suddenly flickered and I looked at Maisie, praying that the Doctor would save her somehow. But she didn't react, didn't point or gasp or scream at any approaching mummy. Confused, I looked around at the other passengers as I tried to figure out which one of them would be seeing the monster if it wasn't Miss Pitts.

"Do we start the clock?" Perkins asked.

"Not yet." The Doctor stood in front of Maisie and looked curiously at her. "Where is it?"

"Where's what?" she questioned.

My gaze flew across the room, brushing over a shadowed figure in the open doorway across the car from me. I stopped and looked at the figure again, and felt my breath catch in my throat when I realized what it was. "Oh my god," I breathed.

"I don't understand," the Doctor said. "She's not reacting."

I screamed. " _Doctor!_ " I pointed at the slowly advancing mummy, my eyes already welling with tears. "It's the mummy!"

The Doctor suddenly gripped my arm and spun me around so I was facing him. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Oh god. Oh my god, I'm gonna die." I looked over my shoulder at the monster and screamed, yanking my arm out of the Doctor's grip and stumbling past him in terror as I tried to run away from the mummy. "Doctor, do something!"

The Doctor reached out and grabbed my arm again, pushing the scanner into my line of vision. "Diana, Diana, focus. Focus on this," he instructed. I tore my eyes away from the mummy and stared into the flashing screen of the scanner. "All of your anger, all of your resentment, all of your grief. Every loss, every lie, every moment of pain and trauma. Susan's death, losing my other self, losing your family, abandoning Sarah, every moment the Master spent torturing you, focus it all on this!" The screen stopped flashing and the Doctor moved the scanner so it was pressed against his temple. He pressed a button on the scanner and golden light rippled across his skin. "And now it's mine."

The mummy vanished into thin air and my already wobbling legs gave out underneath me. I let out a sob as I fell to the ground, Clara kneeling beside me and gently grasping my shoulders to steady me. I looked frantically around the room, trying to find the mummy.

I let out another sob. "It's gone."

"No. No, it's not." The Doctor threw the scanner onto the nearest computer table. "Not for me. 'Cause now it thinks I'm you."

 _What?_

The Doctor looked at Perkins and nodded. "Start the clock." He rushed down the car towards the door and smiled at empty air. "Hello. I'm so pleased to finally see you. I'm the Doctor and I will be your victim this evening. Are you my mummy?"

"What's he doing?" Maisie asked.

Clara helped me to my feet and I leaned heavily on her, my legs still feeling mostly like jello. "He made the mummy think he's Diana," Clara said. "And now it's going after him."

"But you can't hurt me until my time is up," the Doctor continued as he walked backwards, still talking to empty air. "I think. So are there magic words? Is there a way to stop you in your tracks?" The Doctor suddenly turned around and looked at me, his eyes turning sad for a moment. "I'm starting to realize that maybe I did deserve that punch in the face."

I stared at the Time Lord in surprise. "What?"

The Doctor was already looking back at the invisible mummy. "There's something visible under the bandages- By the way, you do realize you were checking Clara out earlier, right?"

"No I wasn't!" I retorted before I could stop myself.

He pointed at the mummy as he continued walking backwards. "Markings like the ones on the scroll. Oh, and I'm sorry about what happened on Gallifrey."

Clara looked at me. "What's he talking about?" she wondered.

The Doctor started talking again, cutting me off before I had even started my sentence. "A tattered piece of cloth attached to a length of wood that you will kill for."

"Thirty seconds," Perkins said.

"That doesn't sound like a scroll. That sounds like a flag!" He pointed to the scroll pinned to the wall behind him. "And if that sounds like a flag- if this is a flag, that means that you are a soldier! Wounded in a forgotten war thousands of years ago. But they've worked on you, haven't they, son? They've filled you full of kit. State of the art phase camouflage, personal teleporter."

"Ten seconds," Perkins said.

"Doctor!" I exclaimed worriedly.

The Doctor had backed up so much that he was pressed almost completely against the wall, the scroll just beside his head. I clutched nervously at Clara's arm as I stared hopefully at the Doctor, praying that he would figure everything out in time.

"And all that tech inside you, it just won't let you die, will it?" the Doctor asked the mummy. "It won't let the war end. It just won't let you stop until the war is over. _We surrender!_ "

Perkins stopped the clock. "Zero."

The mummy suddenly reappeared and I gasped, immediately recoiling into Clara as I tried to scramble away from the monster. "I can see it!" I cried.

Clara wrapped an arm around my shoulder again, trying to comfort me. "It's okay," she said. "I think we all can."

"Do I start the clock?" Perkins questioned.

The Doctor shook his head. "No." The mummy, who had stepped back a few feet, raised an arm and saluted the Doctor. The Doctor nodded at the mummy and smiled sadly at it. "The clock has stopped. You're relieved, soldier."

The mummy lowered its arm as it disintegrated into a pile of dust and bandages. Perkins let out a heavy sigh and leaned against the wall. "He's not the only one," he breathed.

The Doctor knelt and reached a hand into the mummy's remains, pulling out a small black colored device that looked remarkably similar to a human heart.

"We were fighting that?" Clara asked.

"So was he," the Time Lord replied.

With an arm still around my shoulders, Clara looked shyly at the Doctor. "Listen, Doctor, what I said-"

"Save it. We're not out of the woods yet," he said, brushing her words aside with a wave of his hand. He walked past us and stopped at a small desk pushed up against the wall, tossing the device onto the desk as he sat down to inspect it. To the computer, he said, "Well, Gus, I think we solved your little puzzle. Ancient soldier being driven by malfunctioning tech."

"Thank you so much for your efforts. They are greatly appreciated," the computer replied cheerily. "Unfortunately, survivors of this exercise are not required."

The Doctor smiled bitterly. "Ah, well, there's a shocker," he replied flippantly, sonicing the device on the table.

The computer carried on with the same cheery voice. "Air will now be removed from the entire train. We hope you have enjoyed your journey on the Orient Express."

The rest of the passengers began clutching at their throats as they slowly suffocated. I felt my lungs constrict tightly as I tried to take a deep breath, only to find that there was already barely any air left in the car. I stumbled forward as Clara's arms fell from around my shoulders, still gasping desperately.

"I take it you know a way out?" Clara said between shallow breaths.

"My enemy's enemy is my friend. Especially when he has a built in teleporter," the Doctor replied as he began pulling the device apart.

"Great! So use it!" Clara exclaimed, using as much force as she could as she began to loose consciousness.

"A little more work," the Doctor said casually, as if we weren't all slowly dying.

"Doctor!" Clara cried before thudding to the floor at my feet.

Perkins and Maisie, as well as the rest of the passengers had already passed out and were strewn across the car floor. I fell onto my side, my vision blurring as I tried to take another breath and found that there wasn't any air left.

"Couple of minutes, max," the Doctor said to the spot where Clara had once stood. "I'll give you a shout."

Those were the last words I heard before everything went black.

 **A/N: Please don't forget to review, everyone!**


	23. An Understanding

The first thing I saw when I woke up was a man's silhouette against a bright light. Blinking a few times in confusion, I started to sit up and immediately fell back when my arms were restrained by something. I looked down and saw that I had been wrapped in a plaid blanket. Still feeling lethargic after waking up moments ago, I slowly pulled my arms out from beneath the blanket and finally sat up. The Doctor was standing a few feet away from me, using a long stick to draw something in the sand.

 _Sand?_ I thought incredulously. _Wait, what?_

I looked around my surroundings wildly and found that the Doctor, Clara, and myself were on a beach. Behind us was a long stretch of ground covered in small rocks and pebbles and in front of us was the ocean, framed by the sand and a pink and purple sky.

 _Wait a second, where are we? Where's the-_

"Sleep well?" the Doctor asked.

I nodded hesitantly. "Yeah… Um, where are we?"

"Pebble Beach," he replied.

I furrowed my brows in confusion. "This doesn't look like Earth."

"This is Space Pebble Beach. Far away from Earth."

"How did we get here?"

"I'll explain once Clara wakes up," the Doctor said, still focusing on whatever he was drawing in the sand.

"Is she okay?" I asked, glancing worriedly at the schoolteacher lying unconscious beside me.

The Doctor smiled briefly and nodded. "She'll be fine. She's just sleeping now. No damage from the train or the mummy whatsoever."

"What about me?"

The Doctor froze for a split second. "What about you?" he wondered.

"Is there-… Do I have any… damage?"

Closing his eyes, the Doctor sighed and bowed his head. He looked both pained and sad, and I noticed then that his hands were shaking slightly.

"What's wrong? Doctor, what is it?" When the Time Lord didn't respond, I felt my throat tighten in fear. " _Doctor?_ "

"I'm sorry," he breathed, his voice cracking. The Doctor shook his head and finally opened his eyes again, but didn't look at me. Instead he stared at the figures he had drawn in the sand. "I didn't know. I should have known, I should have realized what I'd done to you, but I didn't."

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" I asked fearfully.

"It's my fault," he said as he finally looked at me. "The mummy went after you because of me."

I unconsciously gripped the blanket tighter. "What do you mean?"

"The mummy sensed mental traumas as well as physical ones. I thought it would go after Maisie because of what had happened to her, the trauma of losing her grandmother. But I didn't think about you," he said shamefully. "I didn't think about all the trauma you've endured because of me, because of what I've done to you, and I almost lost you because of that."

The Doctor inhaled sharply all of a sudden and he grimaced, pressing his free hand against his temple. I got to my feet and was by his side in a matter of seconds, gazing worriedly up at him as he groaned painfully. I gently touched his arm and moved my other hand to rest on top of his.

"What is it?" I questioned worriedly.

The Doctor looked down at me, his eyes already beginning to water with unshed tears. He forced a smile before suddenly pulling out of my partial embrace and looking down at the ground, continuing drawing in the sand with his stick.

"Hello again, Clara," he said casually. "Sleep well?"

I turned around to see that Clara had woken up and was sitting upright, a blanket identical to mine still wrapped around her torso. "Weren't we just on a train?" she questioned, looking around in confusion.

The Doctor shrugged, all traces of pain or sadness gone from his face. "Oh, that was ages ago."

"And?"

"And what?" Clara shook her head in confusion as the Doctor continued casually drawing in the sand. "Oh, and we got off the train. I got the teleporter to work, eventually. Beamed everyone into the TARDIS. No casualties, just a bevy of sleeping beauties," the Time Lord said as he glanced at me momentarily. He looked back at Clara and continued his explanation. "I tried hacking Gus from the TARDIS, find out who set this all up. He really didn't like that. Set off some fail-safe thing. Blew up the train."

"Blew up the train?" Clara and I exclaimed in unison.

The Doctor shrugged. "Blew up the train," he repeated in confirmation. "But we got away. Then I dropped everyone off at the nearest civilized planet, which happened to be here," he continued as he gestured to the city that stood in the distance. "You two seemed happy asleep, so I just left you."

Clara smiled. "So you saved everyone," she said.

The Doctor was silent for a few moments. "No, I just saved you two and I let everyone else suffocate." He grinned. "Ha, ha, ha, ha." Clara merely hummed in response. "Yeah, this is just my cover story."

Clara chewed thoughtful on her bottom lip. "So, when you lied to Maisie, when you made _me_ lie to Maisie-"

"I couldn't risk Gus finding out my plan and stopping me," the Doctor interjected.

"So you were pretending to be heartless."

The Doctor stared silently at Clara for a few long seconds. Finally, he said, "Would you like to think that about me? Would that make it easier? I didn't know if I could save her. I couldn't save Quell, I couldn't save Moorhouse. There was a good chance that she'd die too. At which point," he continued as he walked over to Clara and sat down on a large rock beside her, "I would have just moved onto the next, and the next, until I beat it. Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones. But you still have to choose." The Doctor looked at me as he spoke and I realized that those words were meant for me and for what he had done all those years ago. He sighed then and closed his eyes for a moment. "But that wasn't the case. Diana was targeted instead and I had to save her. There wasn't any other option once I realized that. I wasn't going to lose her."

"So everyone's alright?" Clara asked.

The Doctor nodded. "Everyone's alright," he repeated. "And I think it's time we went back to the TARDIS, don't you?"

Clara nodded in agreement and unwrapped the blanket from around her shoulders. The Doctor immediately got to his feet and extended his hand to Clara, helping her stand. The moment she turned away from him, however, his face contorted painfully and his hands balled into fists at his side. His name fell past my lips as I reached worriedly for his arm, but he immediately pulled away from me and his pained expression melted away. Clara looked over her shoulder at us in confusion, but looked away when she saw that the Doctor was apparently fine.

I stood frozen in front of the Doctor, watching as Clara pick up the blanket she had been resting on and the Doctor picked up my blanket. He handed the blanket to me without even looking at me and turned towards Clara with a partial smile. Confused and deeply hurt by the fact that the Doctor didn't even want to _look_ at me, let alone speak to me, I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders and stormed off towards the TARDIS. The wind was cold and gentle, but I hardly felt it as I scrambled over the rocks and pebbles that littered the way back to the ship.

 _Is this because of what I said before?_ I wondered. _I just wanted him to understand because he made me feel like I was wrong for being angry. But can't he at least look at me or talk to me?_

When I reached the TARDIS, the ship hummed softly at me. I rested my hand on the doors and they fell open at my touch. Knowing that the Doctor and Clara were far behind me, I let the tears that had started welling in my eyes flow freely down my cheeks. However, I had hardly taken a few steps into the ship when a man's voice drifted up from below the console.

"Doctor? Is that you?"

I recognized the voice as Perkin's and ran across the room, dashing through the open doorway that led to the rest of the ship. Perkins called my name in confusion, but I ignored him and hurried to my bedroom so I could have some time to myself. I threw myself onto my bed with the plaid blanket still around my shoulders, my legs dangling over the edge as I lay on my stomach.

The TARDIS whirred again, the bedroom lights dimming slightly as I cried softly. I suddenly felt something reaching out for me, a presence somehow trying to enter my mind. I sat up, alarmed and looked around the room as if I expected someone to be there with me, reaching out for me. The TARDIS hummed and gentle, soothing music began playing in the room as the lights dimmed so low that it was nearly dark. My eyes began to droop and I suddenly felt very woozy. The room began to spin as my arms gave out beneath me and I collapsed on the bed in a deep sleep.

My eyes fluttered open seconds later to reveal Idris sitting beside me, a sad smile on her face. She reached out and gently brushed her knuckles against my cheek. "My darling Wolf," she said, "I've missed you. We haven't spoken properly in so long." She pulled her hand back and watched as I sat up. "I am sorry for that trick of mine, but I didn't have any other way to communicate with you."

I looked down at my body, sprawled out across the bed, and then back at Idris. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"The Alkonirens are famous through all of time and space for their music. Listening to their songs can cause any creature, humanoid or not, to fall unconscious within seconds." Idris shook her head and reached for my hand, her fingers gently wrapping around mine. "But that does not matter. I know what you're thinking."

"Wh- What I'm thinking?" I echoed in confusion. "How?"

Idris smiled. "You have yet to realize how strong our bond is. I sometimes can tell what you're thinking without you even saying a word. But that's not what I need to talk to you about." Idris' smile faltered and she lowered her eyes, her hair falling from her shoulder to partially cover her face. "I don't think you even realized it, but you thought it."

"Thought what? What are you talking about?"

"You want to leave. Like our Impossible Girl did once." Idris tightened her grip on my hand and looked straight into my eyes. "Change your mind. Give our Thief another chance."

"Idris-"

"I know he hurt you. I remember. I felt your pain as if it were mine. You cried and you screamed and begged and I cried with you. I saw what happened after you left and I cried for her. But there is nothing you can do to change what happened."

I nodded in understanding. "I know. And I know the Doctor did what he had to- what he _thought_ he had to. I know he had an impossible choice. But that doesn't make it okay."

Idris suddenly gripped my other hand and pulled me close. "Please, Diana," she pleaded. "Stay. Give him another chance. He nearly lost you today and he was terrified, more terrified than you were because for nearly two thousand years you have been the one thing in the universe to keep him grounded. His trust in me has wavered before and so has my trust in him. But never for you. He _needs_ you."

I stared wide eyed at Idris, unsure of what to say or how to even react. I eventually looked away from her intense blue gray eyes and closed mine as I gathered my thoughts.

"I love him. And one day I'll forgive him for what he did to me and to Rose and to Donna. But right now, I can't. It isn't even because of Donna, even if I'm still angry about that. It's the way he lied to me. He gave me _hope_ and he made me happy and he made me think that everything was gonna be okay for once. And then he shoved me inside the TARDIS without even saying goodbye," I said, finally breaking down as tears began welling in my eyes again. "It's like- It's like he was okay with it, like it wasn't a big deal to just send me away knowing that he would never see me again. Didn't he _want_ to stay with me? With Naya?"

"Of course he did. You know he did," Idris assured me. "But he was looking after you-"

"I don't need him to look after me! I don't need him to decide what's best for me!" I shook my head in frustration. "All I wanted was to be with him and he just threw me away without so much as a goodbye." I sniffled as a few tears began slowly rolling down my cheeks. "We could have found a way. It wouldn't have been perfect, but we could've made something work so that he could see me sometimes. Or the kids. So that he wouldn't have to be alone."

Letting my face fall into my hands, I let out a heavy sigh and waited for my tears to subside. A few minutes later, I wiped the remaining tears from my cheeks. Idris looked sadly at me and I found it difficult to look her in the eye after my breakdown.

"What- What the Doctor said earlier, about mental trauma?" I asked hesitantly. "What did he mean?"

The sad expression on Idris' face suddenly dropped and she looked worriedly at me. "Perhaps it's best if I let the Doctor explain," she said, leaning forward and pressing a golden kiss to my lips.

* * *

I woke with a gasp, pushing myself into a sitting position. I glanced quickly around the room only to find myself alone, no Doctor, no Idris, and no Clara. I warily reached up to brush my fingers against my face and found that there was no trace of any tears. With another sigh, I fell back onto the bed again and stared at the ceiling. The TARDIS hummed softly and I turned over onto my stomach to stare wordlessly at the comforter instead.

The door to my room suddenly opened and I looked over my shoulder to see the Doctor standing in the doorway. He held my gaze for only a few seconds before quickly looking down. I sat up a little and looked expectantly at him as I waited for an explanation.

"I think we need to talk," he said lowly. "May I come in?"

I nodded. "Yes."

The Doctor ran his hand down the side of his face, his brows drawn together in thought as he stepped inside my room. "I think," he began, "that I need to explain myself. But before I do, I need you to know how sorry I am."

"For what?"

"For everything. For lying, for Donna, for everything that happened on that damn train. Diana, I have never been more sorry in all my lives because… because I finally understand."

"Understand?" I echoed.

"Yes," he answered with a nod. "You see, when I scanned your brain and made you focus on all the fear and grief and pain, I was copying your memories. Every thought, every feeling, every single memory from the day of your birth until now was absorbed by that scanner. And when I forced the information into _my_ mind, the mummy thought I was you."

"Because you had all my feelings and memories inside you," I added.

"Yes." The Doctor stared worriedly at me, his fingers tapping anxiously against his palms. "I felt every emotion, relived every moment of your life. I finally understand." The Time Lord laughed humorlessly and shook his head, seemingly frustrated with himself. "You were right. You're always right, Diana, _always_. All that humanity you've got stuffed inside yourself, all that love and caring and determination and you're _always_ right."

I flashed the Time Lord a slightly confused expression. "Doctor?"

"I was so self righteous. I always have been. But you were right," he said as he looked very seriously at me. "What I did to Donna was-… You're right, I took that decision away from her and I took away what was most important to her. It wasn't my decision to make and perhaps I was wrong, but I don't regret what I did. I hope you can understand that."

After a few moments, I gave the Doctor a hesitant nod. "I understand," I said simply.

"Good." The Doctor glanced down at his fingers as they twitched nervously.

"What you said on the beach about the mummy," I said suddenly, not daring to even make eye contact with the Time Lord. "You said it sensed mental trauma. That's why it went after Captain Quell and Professor Moorhouse. And why you thought it was going to go after Maisie. You said that you didn't think about my trauma… What did you mean?"

The Doctor sighed and when I finally gathered the courage to look into his eyes, I saw that they were glassy and slightly red rimmed. "You've been fighting it for so long, I don't think you ever noticed. And you were so good at hiding it that I didn't even realize-"

"What?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly. "What didn't I notice?"

"Post-traumatic stress. After the Master tortured you, you had nightmares for months. Forced entry to your mind via the Master when he made you hear the drums in his head. That alone caused enough trauma to make you hear the drums for weeks after. Depression after being separated from your family, your home universe, and everything that you have ever known. Losing your daughter, your boyfriend, being lied to, being emotionally manipulated by the Valeyard- by _me_. Having to kill yourself to escape the Weeping Angels, watching me kill an innocent boy with no one around to comfort you, being trapped on an alien planet and having to learn how to fight just to stay alive. And I repaid you by abandoning you." The Doctor knelt in front of me, his hands resting lightly on my knees as he gazed up at me. I didn't realize until he brushed the back of his hand against my cheek that I was crying. "This is what I've done to you. The mummy went after you because of me. This was my fault. And you've been so brave. You pushed past the pain and made yourself carry on even though your heart was breaking." With a gentle and loving smile, the Doctor cupped my face in his hand. "And I have never been more proud of you."

I closed my eyes, forcing myself to stop crying as I leaned into the Doctor's touch. His hand on my cheek was gentle and comforting as I began to understand that everything the Time Lord has said was true.

"But you can't keep doing this," he said.

A sob worked its way from my throat as I nodded in agreement. "I know," I whispered tearfully.

"I think-"

"I need a break," I interjected, my words clumped together as they rushed past my lips.

My eyes flew open and I was met with the Doctor's intense gaze. His thumb rubbed gently against my cheekbone as he flashed me a tiny, barely sincere smile. "I think so too," he said. softly. "And I know exactly who can look after you."

* * *

Some time later, after I'd recovered from my breakdown and changed into a more comfortable outfit, I was standing in the console room with my phone clutched nervously in my hands. The Doctor had returned it to me before leaving me to gather my thoughts. We had both agreed that I needed a break from both our travels and our relationship for my own good. So once the Time Lord had left, I began packing a bag with spare clothes and a few important possessions.

Standing in the console room and waiting for the TARDIS to land only took a few moments, but to me it felt like an eternity. I fiddled absently with the strap of the backpack that was slung over my shoulder and mentally reviewed all the things inside. With a final groan, the TARDIS landed and the time rotor halted its vertical motion.

The Doctor didn't look at me as his attention was fixed on one of the screens. "The TARDIS was able to pinpoint, give or take a day or two, the date in your personal timeline. December 15th, or 16th," he explained as he leaned against the console. "Earth, 2007, December 16th, sometime early in the morning," he continued.

"Thanks," I said a little awkwardly.

The Doctor nodded, but said nothing. Not wanting to make our goodbye anymore awkward or painful for either of us, I turned and quickly headed for the doors. My fingers had just brushed against the wood of the doors when the Doctor suddenly spoke up from across the console room.

"If you ever need me, you can always call," he told me. "I'll come."

I paused, staring at the doors as I tried to think of an appropriate response. Turning to look over my shoulder, I smiled partially at the Time Lord and nodded. "I will," I said.

"Be careful."

"You too."

The doors opened with a single push and I stepped outside, squinting against the bright sunlight. I recognized my surroundings immediately, recalling a happier time when I had last seen the city with a previous Doctor and our friends. Roald Dahl Plass stood before me and I smiled a little when I realized that I was going to see Jack again.

My smile faded, however, when the TARDIS doors shut behind me and the ship let out a wheeze. I whirled around to look at the ship and watched as she began to dematerialize. I wondered if the Doctor could see me, if he was watching me or if he was already searching for Clara to take her on a new adventure. Just a few seconds later, the space where the ship had once stood was empty and I was left on my own.

Adjusting the backpack strap on my shoulder, I turned around to face the large tower that marked the entrance to the Hub. I walked across the pavement to the base of the tower, wondering how I could get the team's attention. I wasn't sure where the tourist entrance was or which cement block was the invisible elevator that would take me directly into the Hub, but I hoped that if I walked around a little that I would find a way into the base.

After walking around the square for a while, I wandered back towards the tower and sat down on the base of the tower with a sigh. A voice calling my name suddenly echoed across the square. Startled and more than a little confused, I began looking around for the source of the voice. All the way across the square and close to the water's edge was a young man, the person calling my name. I jumped to my feet and gasped when I recognized him as my son, Alistair. I immediately raced across the square and threw myself into Alistair's arms the moment I reached him, burying my face in his chest like I had so long ago by the shores of Lake Silencio.

"Is everything okay?" Alistair asked as we pulled apart. "We saw the TARDIS leave on the monitors. Why didn't you come in?"

"I don't know how," I admitted. "I've never been to the Hub before."

Alistair rose his eyebrows in surprise. "Never?"

I shook my head. "No," I answered, "but I was wondering… Well, where's Jack? I need to ask him something."

Alistair lowered his head. "Jack's not here," he told me.

"What?"

"He's been gone for almost a year now. What did you need to ask him?"

I sighed. "I, uh… I need a place to stay," I mumbled. "I-I really don't want to talk about it, but the Doctor seemed to think that it would be okay for me to stay here."

Alistair smiled and gently took my hands in his. "Of course it is. And you don't have to explain anything if you don't want to," he assured me. Dropping one of my hands, Alistair guided me back to the tower and made me stand on one of the cement blocks beside him. The block jolted and I grabbed his arm to steady myself as we slowly began to sink into the ground. "Mum, it's my pleasure to welcome you to Torchwood Three."

 **A/N: Sorry this chapter is a little late, but I hope you all enjoyed it! Please don't forget to leave a review!**


	24. Welcome to Torchwood

I held tightly to Alistair's arm as we descended into the Torchwood Hub, staring in awe and excitement at the underground base as it came into view. We descended slowly into the Hub just as a large pterodactyl flew past us. I gasped in alarm and jumped back, nearly falling off the cement block until Alistair pulled me into his arms.

"Sorry," he said with a smile. "Myfanwy gets excited whenever you come 'round and she hasn't seen you in a while."

"Myfanwy?" I repeated in confusion.

Alistair gestured to the pterodactyl with a nod of his head. "That would be the large, flying reptile," he teased.

From somewhere below us, a voice suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, _fuck!_ "

Although I was no stranger to curse words, I was still taken aback by the sudden expletive. I looked over the edge of the block to see Myfanwy flying dangerously close to Owen as he walked across one of the metal walkways. From her desk across the Hub, Tosh scolded Owen's language before standing up when she noticed Alistair and I descending further into the Hub.

Alistair spared me a glance and grimaced slightly when he noticed my slightly surprised expression. "Sorry," he mumbled.

I shook my head. "No, uh, it's fine. I just… wasn't expecting that."

About a minute later, the block had finally completely lowered to the floor. Tosh and Owen had moved to stand on one of the walkways, watching us expectantly, while Ianto walked towards us from the Hub's main entrance. Alistair stepped off the block first, extending his hand to me to help me down as well. Then he turned to the others as he put an arm around my shoulders.

"This is Mum's first visit to Torchwood, so you'd better be on your best behavior, _Owen_ ," Alistair said accusingly.

Owen scoffed. "Why are you singling _me_ out?" he demanded.

"Because one of the very first things Mum heard was you shouting expletives."

I smiled a little awkwardly at Owen, saying, "It's okay, Alistair. I really don't care. You can say all the expletives you want. I won't mind."

Owen grinned and looked proudly at Alistair, raising his eyebrows as if he was silently asking my son to say something else about his language. Tosh cleared her throat and stepped towards Alistair and I, her arms spread. I pulled away from Alistair slightly and let her embrace me with a smile.

"First visit or not," she said, "it's always good to see you. How have you been?"

I felt my smile drop slightly, but was quick to recover. "Fine," I replied. "You know, just… fine. What about you?"

Tosh shrugged. "Oh, you know, working. As usual. But now that you're here, you, Gwen, and I can have a girl's night. If you're staying long enough, that is."

"I'd like to stay for a while, actually," I said a little shyly. "If that's okay. I thought I could just stay here in the Hub. I don't want to impose on anyone-"

"You won't," Ianto interjected. "In fact, you have a room."

My eyes widened in surprise. "I do?" I asked incredulously.

Ianto smiled and nodded. "Of course. We always keep it ready for you. If you want, I could take your things there for you while you catch up with everyone."

"Oh, Ianto, you don't have to do that. I can do it."

"Nonsense," he answered. "I'll show you around later, once we've all eaten and caught up." Ianto walked over and extended his arm, taking my backpack once I had pushed it off of my shoulders. Slinging it over one shoulder, Ianto suddenly pulled me into a hug. "It's nice to see you again."

"It's nice to see you, too," I said with a smile.

Once he pulled away, Ianto looked over at Alistair and gestured towards the Hub entrance with a nod of his head. "Alistair, would you mind ordering pizza for me while I take care of Diana's things?"

Alistair nodded. "Sure." He swiftly kissed me on the cheek and started towards the entrance. "I'll be right back!"

Once Ianto and Alistair had left, I turned back to Tosh and Owen and smiled awkwardly at them. "So," Owen began, "first time, then."

"Yeah."

"I was wondering why you were wandering around like a lost puppy up there."

"I didn't really know how to get in," I explained. "I was kind of hoping someone would come and help me."

Tosh smiled sweetly at me. "We'll make sure to show you the other way in," she said.

"That would be appreciated," I replied.

"So, how long are you staying?" Owen asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. As long as I can, I guess."

"Why? Did something happen?" Tosh asked slowly. "Are you okay?"

"I don't really want to talk about it," I muttered.

Tosh nodded in understanding and gently rested her hand on my arm. "That's okay. I don't want to push you. But if you ever want to talk about it, all of five of us are here whenever you need us."

I glanced around the Hub for a moment and then looked back at Tosh. "Where's Gwen, by the way?"

"Day off," Owen told me. "But someone can call her, if you like. She'll be thrilled to see you."

"Oh, no," I answered with a firm shake of my head. "I don't want to bother her. Especially on her day off."

"I'll just text her and tell her you're here," Tosh said as she reached for her back pocket. "She can decide whether or not she wants to come."

"She's with Rhys, so she definitely won't be _coming_ ," Owen said, laughing at his own joke.

Tosh immediately slapped her coworker on the arm and narrowed her eyes at him. "Watch it," she scolded. "You're supposed to mind your language."

"Oh, come off it, Tosh. Diana doesn't mind."

"Still," Tosh grumbled as she typed out a quick message on her phone. She slipped her phone back into her pocket and smiled at me. "Once the pizza's here, is there anything you'd like to do?"

"Like what?" I wondered.

Owen crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't you have some paperwork you need to finish?"

"I can do it later," Tosh said dismissively. "I'm not going to just ignore Diana because of some paperwork. So," she continued as she looked back at me, "any ideas?"

I shook my head. "I don't really know what there is to do around here."

"Well, we could always go shopping," Tosh suggested. "I know I still have to get a gift for Alistair."

"Gift?" I echoed.

"Christmas gift," the woman clarified.

I gasped in realization. " _Oh._ That's right, the Doctor said it was December. What is it, the sixteenth?"

Tosh and Owen nodded in confirmation. "You're staying for Christmas, aren't you?" Owen asked.

"I hope so. I mean, I haven't been doing a lot of time jumping lately, so maybe I'll even be able to stay for my birthday." I looked happily at Tosh as I entertained the idea of Christmas shopping with her and Gwen, but my smile quickly fell when I realized something. "I don't have any money," I said sadly.

Owen laughed at my dismay. "Well, you're not getting any from me. Go leech some off your kid," he joked.

"I would never!" I exclaimed.

"Don't worry about money," Tosh said, smiling reassuringly at me. "I'll lend you some."

"But-"

"I said don't worry. And it's not a problem. This job pays well enough." Tosh looked seriously at me when I started to protest a second time, her eyebrows raised. "I mean it, Diana."

Alistair came bounding into the room then before I could say anything else. He grinned at us from the Hub entrance and said happily, "Pizza's on its way!"

* * *

I had barely taken a bite of my first slice of pizza when a blur of blue, black, and red came streaking towards me. Gwen had run across the Hub to engulf me in a tight hug while she pinned me down to the couch. I squeaked in surprise, my slice of pizza being taken out of my hand by someone while Gwen rocked me back and forth excitedly.

"Oh my God," she breathed, "I'm so glad to see you!"

"Told you she'd be thrilled," Owen laughed.

Gwen finally pulled away, grinning at me as she pulled Owen off the couch to sit next to me. Owen grumbled under his breath in annoyance, but didn't do anything to stop her. Tosh leaned back against the couch and watched us with a tiny smile as she ate her single slice of pepperoni pizza.

"It's been so long," Gwen sighed. "Nearly a year. I was wondering if we'd ever see you again."

I smiled a little awkwardly at the other woman. "Well, here I am," I said.

"And just in time for Christmas!" she exclaimed. "And your birthday, hopefully."

"Hopefully," I replied with a nod. I looked around for my pizza and saw that Tosh had put it on her plate. She placed it back on my plate and I took a small bite. "I'm hoping to stay for a little while, actually."

"Well, I'm not complaining," Gwen said.

"I told her that the three of us should have a girl's night sometime," Tosh interjected. "Thought it would be fun."

Gwen nodded eagerly. "Absolutely! We could do it tomorrow. I know Rhys is going to be busy at work. He's been a bit busy the whole week."

"Right, well if you three are just going to go on about doing your hair and nails," Owen groaned, "then I'm leaving."

"Oh come on, Owen. Stop whining," Gwen teased. "We won't talk about anything damaging to your sensitive ears when you're around."

Alistair smirked and Ianto snorted into his cup of coffee, while Tosh and I laughed and Owen grumpily crossed his arms over his chest. Obviously pleased with herself, Gwen turned towards me again as she grabbed a pizza slice from the open box on the coffee table.

"So where's the Doctor?" she asked. "He usually comes with you, doesn't he?"

I glanced down at my lap and shrugged. "I don't know. This is my first time visiting Torchwood," I said softly.

"It is?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

Gwen seemed to realize that I was hesitant to talk about the Doctor. She finished her bite of pizza and then cleared her throat. "Well, Doctor or no Doctor, you're going to have a wonderful Christmas. I promise."

I smiled. "Thanks, Gwen."

An alarm coming from all of the computers suddenly went off. Gwen jumped off of the sofa and raced towards the nearest computer with Tosh right on her heels. Alistair lowered his plate onto the coffee table with Ianto worriedly grasped his coffee mug.

"What is it?" Owen asked.

"There's been a spike in local rift activity," Tosh said as she looked over Gwen's shoulder. "Seems like there's something going on about a half mile away, some kind of after effect of the rift activity."

"We'll need to go make sure nothing got through," Gwen said. She turned back around and pointed to her teammates as she said their names. "Tosh, Alistair, you come with me. We shouldn't need more than three of us. Owen, Ianto, you two stay here. We'll radio if we need anything, yeah?"

Alistair awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, not unlike the way his father's third incarnation used to do. "Actually, could I stay with Mum and Ianto?" he asked.

Gwen glanced at me and nodded after a moment. "Alright. Owen, with me," she ordered as she started for the Hub entrance.

Tosh, Owen, and Gwen were gone in a matter of seconds, leaving me with Alistair and Ianto. The two men glanced at each other and then looked at me. Ianto set his coffee mug on the table and readjusted his waistcoat.

Flashing me a smile, Ianto said, "Well, how about Alistair and I show you around the Hub?"

First, the pair properly showed me around the main room where Myfanwy tended to spend her time as well as where everyone's desks were placed. After the brief walk around of the six desks, Ianto guided Alistair and I to an open doorway in the wall nearby Jack's empty office. Just though the doorway was a concrete corridor. There were four doors along the corridor, two on each wall, and each door was made of thick slabs of metal.

Ianto guided me to the door on the right hand side and at the far end of the corridor. "This is your room," he said as he pulled a key ring from his pocket. "We like to keep it locked when you're not here just to protect your things."

"We promise not to lock you in," Alistair said with a laugh.

I smiled. "That would be appreciated."

Ianto pushed the door opened and stepped aside, gesturing for me to go in first. My breath caught in my throat the moment I walked inside. The room was altogether ordinary, with a simple bed, a bookcase, a desk, and some pictures and posters scattered along the walls. But what made the room so breathtaking was the fact that there were strands of white Christmas lights pinned to the ceiling and the walls.

I turned to Ianto with wide eyes and a shocked smile. "Did you do this?" I asked.

He nodded. "I thought you'd like it," he said with a grin. "Everyone knows how much you love Christmas."

I immediately threw my arms around Ianto's waist and pulled him into a hug, my cheek resting against his chest. "Thank you. Thank you so much," I said. "I love it."

"Of course," Ianto replied as he returned the hug. He pulled away then and smiled down at me. "Normally we would have decorated the rest of the Hub, but without you or Jack here we weren't really in the mood."

"That's okay. I mean, I did kind of show up without any warning. I'm not expecting anything from anyone," I told the Welshman. "Just this is enough. Christmas with my friends and a little bit of lighting. And as long as I don't get in anyone's way, that's fine."

"Mum, you're not going to be in anyone's way," Alistair assured me.

Glancing out of the doorway, I pointed to the other doors. "Whose rooms are those?" I wondered. "Are they yours?"

"The room right next to yours is Jack's," Alistair explained. "The others are mostly just spares in case you and Dad visit and bring a friend with you."

Ianto awkwardly cleared his throat. "I've actually been staying in Jack's room lately. So you won't be sleeping in a big, empty Hub all alone. And if you ever need anything, you can always come talk to me."

"Us," Alistair corrected.

I looked at my son in confusion. "What?"

"Us," he repeated. "Ianto and I share Jack's room."

"Why…?"

Alistair glanced at Ianto. "We're together," he said simply.

I raised my eyebrows, not in disapproval but in surprise. "I… thought you were with Jack?"

Alistair shook his head. "No. I barely knew Jack before he left."

 _They must not be together yet then,_ I thought. _Whoops._ "Oh," I said out loud.

"I hope that's… alright," Ianto said slowly.

"Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be? As long as you two are happy, that's all that matters."

Ianto and Alistair shared a look and smiled at each other. "We are," Ianto assured me. He quickly glanced away from Alistair and looked at me instead. "Er, your bag's on the bed, in case you didn't see. And I didn't touch anything. I didn't want to be rude."

"I wouldn't have minded if you did," I told him, "but thanks."

Ianto simply nodded. "Right. Well, I do need to clean up and I really should be checking the monitors for more rift activity. I'll take care of everything so you and Alistair can catch up."

"I can clean up my mess," I offered.

But Ianto shook his head firmly. "No. You're a guest here and I won't make you do chores," he laughed. Sparing Alistair a glance, Ianto said, "Phone me if you need anything."

With an answering nod from Alistair, Ianto said goodbye to both of us and headed back into the main room. Alistair looked back at me and awkwardly stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets. He gestured to my bedroom with a nod of his head and asked, "Did you want to talk in there?"

"Sure," I replied with a shrug. Shuffling through the doorway, I moved to sit down on my bed while Alistair sat down at my desk. "What did you want to talk about?"

Alistair sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Why did Dad leave?" he said suddenly. "The others have told me that he usually stays with you when you visit."

"Alistair, I really don't-"

"I just want to make sure you're okay, Mum. If he said or did something, you know you can always talk to me about it, right?"

"I can't tell you. It still hasn't happened for you."

"Can't you make an exception?"

I shook my head. "No. And besides, I _really_ don't want to talk about it. It'll just make me upset and sad and I don't want to do that right now." I sighed and forced a smile onto my face. "It's Christmastime. I'm not gonna ruin that by sulking over your father."

"Is there anything I can do?" my son wondered.

"You don't have to do anything, sweetie. But… if I ever do feel like talking, I promise you'll be the first person to know," I assured him.

Alistair gazed worriedly at me and sighed again. "As long as you're okay," he said slowly. "I worry about you sometimes."

"Alistair, you don't need to worry. It's my job to worry about _you_ , not the other way around. You don't need to look after me."

"But I want to. Sometimes Dad can be… Well, you know how he can be."

I nodded. "Yeah. I know," I answered with a partial smile.

"I just want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine. Really. Your Dad and I just need a break," I told him. "I've been through a lot lately and I think this is best for both of us." Upon seeing the slightly panicked expression on Alistair's face, I hastily added, "It won't be forever. Just until I can get over a few things. I'll go back to him. But when I'm ready."

After sitting in silence for a few moments, Alistair suddenly stood up and walked over to the bed. He wrapped me in a gentle, yet firm embrace and buried his head in the crook of my neck. I was momentarily taken aback by the hug, but didn't hesitate to return it.

"I missed you," he whispered. "It hasn't even been that long, but it feels like forever."

"Well I'm here now," I said gently. "And I'm not leaving anytime soon."

Alistair's phone suddenly began ringing and he pulled away, fumbling with his phone as he too it out of his trouser pocket. "Hello?" There was a pause and then Alistair suddenly stood at attention. "One minute. On my way." Pocketing his phone again, Alistair looked a little sadly at me. "Ianto needs me. Something about the rift spikes."

I nodded in understanding. "Okay. You go ahead," I told him.

"Do you want to come with me?"

"No, it's fine. I wouldn't know what to do anyway."

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Alistair assured me before running out of the room.

I got up after he left and gently shut the door, then sat down on my bed again. Not knowing what else to do, I began unpacking my things from my backpack. I had stuffed two spare outfits and some undergarments into the bag, as well as my diary and my phone. I placed the journal on top of the desk with a yawn and then started putting my clothes into the small closet cut into one of the bedroom walls.

Once I had organized my things, I toed off my shoes and sat back down on my bed. I glanced at the desk where my diary was placed and considered writing for a while until Alistair or Ianto came back. I moved to the desk and, after searching the drawers for a pen or pencil, began writing a minute later. So much had happened to me since I had last been able to write in my diary and it was important to me that I write down as much as possible. However, as I wrote I began to grow increasingly tired. I managed to write down most of what had occurred while I was on Gallifrey before my eyes began to droop. I was still writing about my time in 1969 with Martha, Sarah, and the Doctor when it became a struggle to stay sitting upright. And then, while I was still writing, my eyes fluttered shut and I passed out on the table.

 **A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I've been working a lot lately, so it gives me less writing time. As a result, the Christmas chapter(s) will be delayed by a few days but will still be published as soon as possible. Please don't forget to review and have a wonderful New Year's!**


	25. A Very Important Author's Note!

Hello everyone. I know it's been ages since I last updated and I'm really sorry to say this, but it's going to be a while yet before anything else is updated. The main reasons are these:

I'm currently writing a book (which is part of a larger trilogy/series) and it takes up a lot of my attention.

I've been really busy with work and just recently got back from a nearly 3 week vacation.

I've come up with another DW fic idea that I'd really love to work on when I'm not doing this story, my actual book, or work.

I know this is probably really disappointing to some, if not all, of you guys. But honestly a lot has changed in my personal life since I started writing this story and the reasons why I'm writing have changed too. When I started the story, I was in high school and I thought I was straight and this story helped me cope with all the shit going on in my life. Now I'm a college dropout, I'm definitely not straight (pan, if anyone was curious), and I'm in a happy and fulfilling relationship. Because of these changes, I've lost most interest in this story because Di no longer reflects who I am or what I'm interested in.

But have no fear! I've found a way to fix that! I'm going to rewrite this story, starting with Book 1, and fix all of the tiny problems that have accumulated over the years. And Di will no longer be our smol, shy, straight protagonist. She's coming back and she's pan as hell. So if any of you readers aren't interested in that, then I'm sorry but I'm not going to change it.

So very, very soon, I'm going to post the rewritten, remodeled first chapter of the revamped "Once Upon A Time" series. (Lots of "re"s, I know.)

I also want to say how much everyone's support has meant to me over the years since I first started this series. This story is very important to me and I hope that when the new version is out that everyone will love it even more than the original.

All my love and sincerest thanks, Artemis Sherwood


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